Essays of Langston Hughes celebrated in new book

A new collection of interviews, speeches, and essays by famed author Langston Hughes is available in the book Let America Be America Again: Conversations with Langston Hughes.   

Hughes is considered one of the most important writers of the Harlem Renaissance, the African American artistic movement in the 1920s that celebrated Black life and culture. 

Texts in the new book range from conversational essays and early interviews in the 1920s to major speeches, such as Hughes’ keynote address at the 1966 First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal. “His words in this volume further amplify the international reputation Hughes established over the course of five decades through more widely published and well-known poems, stories, novels, and plays,” said the editor of Let America Be America Again, Dr. Christopher De Santis, a professor of African American and American literature at Illinois State University.  

Published through Oxford University Press, Let America Be America Again is titled after Hughes’ 1936 poem that critiqued the proliferation of racism, fascism, and economic oppression in the democratic nation. “A global traveler throughout his career, Hughes’ words, ‘Let America be America Again’ were always followed by a caveat: ‘America never was America to me,’” said De Santis, who added he hopes the new book “will both broaden awareness of Hughes’ powerfully incisive, anti-racist, and anti-fascist thinking as well as provide readers important historical contexts.” 

Much of De Santis’ scholarly career has focused on the works of Hughes. He is also an editor of The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, including the volumes Fight for Freedom and Other Writings on Civil Rights and Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and World Affairs. De Santis has been celebrated for innovative teaching and research at Illinois State and served as chair of the Department of English from 2013 to 2022.

Let America Be America Again is currently in print in the United Kingdom. It is available in the United States as an e-book on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Google. It will be released in print in the U.S. in November 2022.