Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison
Ellison in 1961
BornRalph Waldo Ellison
(1913-03-01)March 1, 1913
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedApril 16, 1994(1994-04-16) (aged 81)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationWriter
EducationTuskegee University
GenreEssay, criticism, novel, short story
Notable worksInvisible Man (1952)
Notable awards

Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953.

Ellison wrote Shadow and Act (1964), a collection of political, social, and critical essays, and Going to the Territory (1986). The New York Times dubbed him "among the gods of America's literary Parnassus".

A posthumous novel, Juneteenth, was published after being assembled from voluminous notes Ellison left upon his death.