John McCluskey, Jr.

John McCluskey, Jr. teaches in both the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, where he has just completed a six-year term as department chair, and the Department of English. His publications include the novels MR. AMERICA'S LAST SEASON BLUES (Louisiana State University Press, 1983) and LOOK WHAT THEY DONE TO MY SONG (Random House, 1974) as well as short stories in several journals and anthologies, including FULL COURT: A LITERARY ANTHOLOGY OF BASKETBALL (Breakaway Books, 1999), ANCESTRAL HOUSE: THE BLACK SHORT STORY IN THE AMERICAS AND EUROPE (Westview Press, 1995), BREAKING ICE: NEW AFRICAN-AMERICAN FICTION (Viking, 1990), and BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 1976 (Houghton Mifflin), among others. He is currently working on a novel titled CHICAGO JUBILEE RAG, a fictionalized account of Frederick Douglass and other historical figures at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Another novel, THE RIVER PEOPLE, is currently with his literary agent. In addition, McCluskey edited THE CITY OF REFUGE: COLLECTED STORIES OF RUDOLPH FISHER (University of Missouri Press, 1987) as well as BLACKS IN HISTORY and BLACKS IN OHIO HISTORY (both, New Day Press, 1975), and he has co-edited, with Charles Johnson, the collection of voices, stories, and poems, BLACK MEN SPEAKING (Indiana University Press, 1997). Currently he is also co-editor and a contributor to a volume of cultural history, THE CHICAGO RENAISSANCE: LITERATURE AND POLITICS 1935-1960.

McCluskey's work is featured in the Fall 1996 issue of Callaloo, with an in-depth interview and three excerpts from his novel, THE RIVER PEOPLE; these excerpts also appear in Callaloo's recently released 25 year retrospective "Best of Callaloo Fiction" issue. His fiction also appears in the Spring 1997 issue of Ploughshares. He has twice been a Yaddo fellow.

Creative Writing Program
English Dept., Indiana University
Ballantine Hall 442
1020 E. Kirkwood Ave.
Bloomington, IN 47405-7103

Phone: (812) 855-9539