Zora Neale Hurston Books In Order

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1934)
  2. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
  3. Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939)
  4. Seraph on the Suwanee (1948)
  5. Barracoon (2018)

Short Stories/Novellas In Publication Order

  1. The Gilded Six-Bits (1986)
  2. Sweat (1997)

Short Story Collections In Publication Order

  1. Mules and Men (1935)
  2. I Love Myself When I Am Laughing… And Then Again (1979)
  3. Hurston Reader (1979)
  4. The Sanctified Church (1981)
  5. Spunk! (1985)
  6. The Complete Stories (1995)
  7. Novels and Stories (1995)
  8. Zora Neale Hurston: Stories (1995)
  9. Zora Neale Hurston: Plays (1998)
  10. Go Gator and Muddy the Water (1999)
  11. Mothers Through the Eyes of Women Writers (2001)
  12. Every Tongue Got to Confess (2001)
  13. In Search of Our Sister’s Garden (2003)
  14. What’s the Hurry, Fox? (2004)
  15. The Skull Talks Back (2004)
  16. Lies and Other Tall Tales (2005)
  17. Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick (2020)
  18. Bookmarks in the Pages of Life (2020)

Plays In Publication Order

  1. Mule Bone (1930)
  2. De Turkey an de Law (2015)

Picture Books In Publication Order

  1. The Three Witches (With: Joyce Carol Thomas) (2006)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. How It Feels to Be Colored Me (1928)
  2. Tell My Horse (1938)
  3. Dust Tracks on a Road (1942)
  4. Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings (1995)
  5. Bottle Up and Go (1995)
  6. Complete Essays (1997)
  7. Collected Essays (1998)
  8. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters (With: Carla Kaplan) (2002)
  9. You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays (With: ) (2022)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. Miami Noir (2020)

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Short Stories/Novellas Book Covers

Short Story Collections Book Covers

Plays Book Covers

Picture Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Zora Neale Hurston Books Overview

Jonah’s Gourd Vine

Jonah’s Gourd Vine, Zora Neale Hurston’s first novel, originally published in 1934, tells the story of John Buddy Pearson, ‘a living exultation’ of a young man who loves too many women for his own good. Lucy, his long suffering wife, is his true love, but there’s also Mehaley and Big ‘Oman, as well as the scheming Hattie, who conjures hoodoo spells to ensure his attentions. Even after becoming the popular pastor of Zion Hope, where his sermons and prayers for cleansing rouse the congregation’s fervor, John has to confess that though he is a preacher on Sundays, he is a ‘natchel man’ the rest of the week. And so in this sympathetic portrait of a man and his community, Zora Neale Hurston shows that faith, tolerance, and good intentions cannot resolve the tension between the spiritual and the physical. That she makes this age old dilemma come so alive is a tribute to her understanding of the vagaries of human nature.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is a luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern black woman in the 1930s whose journey from a free spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to seventy years. This poetic, graceful love story, rooted in black folk traditions and steeped in mythic realism, celebrates, boldly and brilliantly, African American culture and heritage. And in a powerful, mesmerizing narrative, it pays quiet tribute to a black woman, who, though constricted by the times, still demanded to be heard. Originally published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God met significant commercial but divided critical acclaim. Somewhat forgotten after her death, Zora Neale Hurston was rediscovered by a number of black authors in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and reintroduced to a greater readership by Alice Walker in her 1972 essay ‘In Search of Zora Neale Hurston,’ written for Ms. magazine. Long out of print, the book was reissued after a petition was circulated at the Modern Language Association Convention in 1975, and nearly three decades later Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered a seminal novel of American fiction. With a new foreword by the celebrated novelist Edwidge Danticat author of Eyes, Breath, Memory; The Farming of Bones; and Krik?Krak! this edition of Their Eyes Were Watching God commemorates the singular, inimitable voice in America’s literary canon and highlights its unusual publication history.

Moses, Man of the Mountain

In this 1939 novel based on the familiar story of the Exodus, Zora Neale Hurston blends the Moses of the Old Testament with the Moses of black folklore and song to create a compelling allegory of power, redemption, and faith. Narrated in a mixture of biblical rhetoric, black dialect, and colloquial English, Hurston traces Moses’s life from the day he is launched into the Nile river in a reed basket, to his development as a great magician, to his transformation into the heroic rebel leader, the Great Emancipator. From his dramatic confrontations with Pharaoh to his fragile negotiations with the wary Hebrews, this very human story is told with great humor, passion, and psychological insight the hallmarks of Hurston as a writer and champion of black culture.

Seraph on the Suwanee

Acclaimed for her pitch perfect accounts of rural black life and culture, Zora Neale Hurston explores new territory with her novel Seraph on the Suwanee a story of two people at once deeply in love and deeply at odds, set among the community of ‘Florida Crackers’ at the turn of the twentieth century. Full of insights into the nature of love, attraction, faith, and loyalty, it follows young Arvay Henson, convinced she will never find true happiness, as she defends herself from unwanted suitors with hysterical fits and religious fervor. But into her life comes bright and enterprising Jim Meserve, who knows that Arvay is the woman for him, and nothing she can do will dissuade him. Alive with the same passion and understanding of the human heart that made Their Eyes Were Watching God a classic, Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanee masterfully explores the evolution of a marriage and the conflicting desires of an unforgettable young woman in search of herself and her place in the world. Acclaimed for her pitch perfect accounts of rural black life and culture, Zora Neale Hurston explores new territory with her novel Seraph on the Suwanee a story of two people at once deeply in love and deeply at odds, set among the community of ‘Florida Crackers’ at the turn of the twentieth century. Full of insights into the nature of love, attraction, faith, and loyalty, it follows young Arvay Henson, convinced she will never find true happiness, as she defends herself from unwanted suitors with hysterical fits and religious fervor. But into her life comes bright and enterprising Jim Meserve, who knows that Arvay is the woman for him, and nothing she can do will dissuade him. Alive with the same passion and understanding of the human heart that made Their Eyes Were Watching God a classic, Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanee masterfully explores the evolution of a marriage and the conflicting desires of an unforgettable young woman in search of herself and her place in the world.

Sweat

Now frequently anthologized, Zora Neale Hurston’s short story ‘Sweat‘ was first published in Fire!!, a legendary literary magazine of the Harlem Renaissance, whose sole issue appeared in November 1926. In ‘Sweat‘ Hurston claimed the voice that animates her mature fiction, notably the 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God; the themes of marital conflict and the development of spiritual consciousness were introduced as well. ‘Sweat‘ exemplifies Hurston’s lifelong concern with women’s relation to language and the literary possibilities of the black vernacular. This casebook for this story includes an introduction by the editor; a chronology of the author’s life; the authoritative text of ‘Sweat‘; and a second story, ‘The Gilded Six Bits.’ Published in 1932, this second story was written after Hurston had spent years conducting fieldwork in the southern United States. The volume also includes Hurston’s groundbreaking 1934 essay, ‘Characteristics of Negro Expressionism,’ and excerpts from her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road. An article by folklorist Roger Abrahams, along with selected blues and spirituals, provide additional cultural contexts for the story. Critical commentary comes from Alice Walker, who led the recovery of Hurston’s work in the 1970s, Robert E. Hemenway, Hengry Louis Gates Jr., Gayl Jones, John Lowe, Kathryn Lee Seidel, and Mary Helen Washington.

Mules and Men

Simply the most exciting book on black folklore and culture I have ever read.’Roger D. AbrahamsMules and Men is the first great collection of black America’s folk world. In the 1930’s, Zora Neale Hurston returned to her native village of Eatonville, Florida to record the oral histories, sermons and songs, dating back to the time of slavery, which she remembered hearing as a child. In her quest, she found herself and her history throughout these highly metaphorical folk tales, big old lies, and the lyrical language of song. With this collection, Zora Neale Hurston has come to reveal’and preserve’a beautiful and important part of American culture. Zora Neale Hurston 1901 1960 was a novelist, folklorist, anthropologist and playwright whose fictional and factual accounts of black heritage are unparalleled. She is also the author of Tell My Horse, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Dust Tracks on a Road, and Mule Bone. Ruby Dee, a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame, starred on Broadway in the original productions of A Raisin in the Sun and Purlie Victorious, and was featured in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. She is also an award winning author and the producer of numerous television dramas.

I Love Myself When I Am Laughing… And Then Again

The most prolific African American woman author from 1920 to 1950, Hurston was praised for her writing and condemned for her independence, arrogance, and audaciousness. This unique anthology, with 14 superb examples of her fiction, journalism, folklore, and autobiography, rightfully establishes her as the intellectual and spiritual leader of the next generation of black writers. In addition to six essays and short stories, the collection includes excerpts from Dust Tracks on the Road; Mules and Me; Tell My Horse; Jonah’s Gourd Vine; Moses, Man of the Mountain; and Their Eyes Were Watching God. The original commentary by Alice Walker and Mary Helen Washington, two African American writers in the forefront of the Hurston revival, provide illuminating insights into Hurston the writer, the person as well as into American social and cultural history.

The Complete Stories

This landmark gathering of Zora Neale Hurston’s short fiction most of which appeared only in literary magazines during her lifetime reveals the evolution of one of the most important African American writers. Spanning her career from 1921 to 1955, these stories attest to Hurston’s tremendous range and establish themes that recur in her longer fiction. With rich language and imagery, the stories in this collection not only map Hurston’s development and concerns as a writer but also provide an invaluable reflection of the mind and imagination of the author of the acclaimed novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Novels and Stories

When she died in obscurity in 1960, all her books were out of print. Now, Zora Neale Hurston is recognized as one of the most important and influential modern American writers. This volume, with its companion, ‘Zora Neale Hurston: Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings,’ brings together for the first time all of Hurston’s best works in one authoritative set. It features the acclaimed 1937 novel ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God,’ a lyrical masterpiece about a woman’s struggle for love and independence. ‘Jonah’s Gourd Vine,’ based on the story of Hurston’s parents, details the rise and fall of a preacher torn between spirit and flesh. ‘Moses, Man of the Mountain’ is a high spirited retelling of the Exodus story in black vernacular. ‘Seraph on the Suwanee’ portrays the passionate clash between a poor southern ‘cracker’ and her willful husband. A selection of short stories further displays Hurston’s unique fusion of folk traditions and literary modernism comic, ironic, and soaringly poetic.

Zora Neale Hurston: Stories

Out of print for decades, Hurston’s works are again receiving the attention they deserve. Here is part of the Hurston legacy six stories, and each one a gift to the listener, a celebration of the rich African American culture. 2 cassettes.

Go Gator and Muddy the Water

Edited and with a Biographical Essay by Pamala Bordelon, Ph.D. A wonderful discovery of folklore writings many previously unpublished by Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God. When Pamala Bordelon was researching a work on the Florida Federal Writers Project, she discovered writings in the collection that were unmistakably from the hand of Zora Neale Hurston, one of the leading writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Over half of the works included here have not been published or are only available in the Library of America edition of Hurston’s works. As Hurston’s fans know, all of her novels draw upon her deep interest in folklore, particularly from her home state of Florida. Here we see the roots of that work, from the wonderful folktale of the monstrous alligator living in a local lake to her recording of folk songs to her work on children’s games and the black church. There are also fiery and controversial essays on race and the work of black artists. In a biographical essay, Pamala Bordelon, with the help of Hurston’s niece, has re created the years during which Hurston was working for the FWP and living in Eatonville. She has put together the portrait of a serious writer and folklorist who was running tight on money, but big on spirit. This book is an important new addition to Hurston’s work.

Mothers Through the Eyes of Women Writers

Fifty daughters, from literary luminaries to award winning voices of the next generation, take on a topic at once tender and challenging mothers. They offer essays, stories, and poems that explore how perceptions of mothers have changed. Contributors include Natalie Angier, Zora Neale Hurston, Erica Jong, Edwidge Danticat, Margaret Mead, and Anna Quindlen.

Every Tongue Got to Confess

‘Imagine the situations in which these speech acts occur. Recall a front stoop, juke joint, funeral, wedding, barbershop, kitchen: the music, noise, communal energy, and release. Dream. Participate the way you do when you allow a song to transport you, all kinds of songs, from hip hop rap to Bach to Monk, each bearing its different history of sounds and silences.’ From the Foreword by John Edgar WidemanAfrican American folklore was Zora Neale Hurston’s first love. Collected in the late 1920s, Every Tongue Got to Confess is the third volume of folk tales from the celebrated author of Their Eyes Were Watching God. It is published here for the first time. These hilarious, bittersweet, often saucy folk tales some of which date back to the Civil War provide a fascinating, verdant slice of African American life in the rural South at the turn of the twentieth century. Arranged according to subject from God Tales, Preacher Tales, and Devil Tales to Heaven Tales, White Folk Tales, and Mistaken Identity Tales they reveal attitudes about slavery, faith, race relations, family, and romance that have been passed on for generations. They capture the heart and soul of the vital, independent, and creative community that so inspired Zora Neale Hurston. In the foreword, author John Edgar Wideman discusses the impact of Hurston’s pioneering effort to preserve the African American oral tradition and shows readers how to read these folk tales in the historical and literary context that has and has not changed over the years. And in the introduction, Hurston scholar Carla Kaplan explains how these folk tales were collected, lost, and found, and examines their profound significance today. In Every Tongue Got to Confess, Zora Neale Hurston records, with uncanny precision, the voices of ordinary people and pays tribute to the richness of Black vernacular its crisp self awareness, singular wit, and improvisational wordplay. These folk tales reflect the joys and sorrows of the African American experience, celebrate the redemptive power of storytelling, and showcase the continuous presence in America of an Africanized language that flourishes to this day.

In Search of Our Sister’s Garden

The world’s greatest black female writers are only now being discovered in Britain thanks to The X Press Black Classics. In Search of Our Sisters Gardens, the latest in the series, is the sort of book that ought to be read out loud. Both eerie and saddening, and filled with tragedies, it is essentially about survival. With its strong rhythms and colloquial expression, this collection of stories contains a power and vitality that moves the reader in its persistent affirmation of the power of the human spirit to do battle with evil and win, even if only for a while. It has a compelling voice. From some of the best black women writers of all time including Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Mossell and Gertrude Dorsey Brown these stories take flight with truths about being alive, rhythms of folks at ease by the creek and the pool table, songs of love and remorse, syncopated, galloping, and beguilingly genuine. In Search of Our Sisters Gardens, is a pleasure to read. Refreshingly hopeful and honest in its acknowledgement that good and bad may be found in almost everyone and every situation.

What’s the Hurry, Fox?

Acclaimed anthropologist, folklorist, and novelist Zora Neale Hurston traveled the back roads of the rural South, collecting stories from men, women, and children in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana so that the spirit and richness of the oral storytelling tradition could be shared and preserved. What’s the Hurry, Fox?? is a sampling of stories from Every Tongue Got To Confess, Ms. Hurston’s third volume of folktales collected from the Gulf statesin the 1930s. They have been carefully adapted and shaped by National Book and Coretta Scott King Award 150;winning author Joyce Carol Thomas to appeal to the sensibilities of young readers. Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winning artist Bryan Collier adds his unique vision with collages that capture the rich heritage and rural community setting of the stories that are Ms. Hurston’s legacy to us.

The Skull Talks Back

Do you dare to cross paths with…

An enchantress who can slip in and out of her skin, A man more evil than the devil, A skull who talks back, A pair of creepy feet that can walk on their own?

Spooky, chilling, and fantastical, this collection of six scary tales will send shivers up your spine!

The stories in The Skull Talks Back have been selected from Every Tongue Got To Confess, Zora Neale Hurston’s third volume of folklore. Through Joyce Carol Thomas’s carefully adapted text and Leonard Jenkins’s arresting illustrations, the soulful, fanciful imaginations of ordinary folk will reach readers of all ages.

Lies and Other Tall Tales

What’s the shortest man you ever seen? I seen a man so short, he had to get up on a box to look over a grain of sand. And the fastest? I seen a man run so hard that he lost his feets. Back in the day, there were liars who could lie so good, you didn’t even want to know the truth. And we have Zora Neale Hurston to thank for collecting their stories. In lies, Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor artist Christopher Myers has created expressive collages that are as bold and wild as the whoppers Hurston encountered on her travels in the Gulf States. Here’s a visual treat that will tickle your funny bone.

Mule Bone

Mule Bone is the only collaboration between Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, two stars of the Harlem Renaissance, and it holds an unparalleled place in the annals of African American theater. Set in Eatonville, Florida Hurston’s hometown and the inspiration for much of her fiction this energetic and often farcical play centers on Jim and Dave, a two man song and dance team, and Daisy, the woman who comes between them. Overcome by jealousy, Jim hits Dave with a Mule Bone and hilarity follows chaos as the town splits into two factions: the Methodists, who want to pardon Jim; and the Baptists, who wish to banish him for his crime. Included in this edition is the fascinating account of the Mule Bone copyright dispute between Hurston and Hughes that ended their friendship and prevented the play from being performed until its debut production at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York City in 1991 sixty years after it was written. Also included is ‘The Bone of Contention,’ Hurston’s short story on which the play was based; personal and often heated correspondence between the authors; and critical essays that illuminate the play and the dazzling period that came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance.

The Three Witches (With: Joyce Carol Thomas)

The three bad witches are HUNGRY! ‘Let’s eat these children,’ they say. They may have teeth that are longer than their lips and they may wear high heels, but they are NO match for two smart children, their brave grandma, three hound dogs, and a fast running snake. The Three Witches was first published in every tongue got to confess, the third volume of folklore collected by Zora Neale Hurston while traveling in the Gulf States in the 1930s. It has been adapted for young people by National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas. The vibrant paintings have been masterfully executed by internationally celebrated artist Faith Ringgold.

Tell My Horse

Based on acclaimed author Zora Neale Hurston’s personal experiences in Haiti and Jamaica where she participated as an initiate rather than just an observer during her visits in the 1930s Tell My Horse is a fascinating firsthand account of the mysteries of Voodoo. An invaluable resource and remarkable guide to Voodoo practices, rituals, and beliefs, it is a travelogue into a dark, mystical world that offers a vividly authentic picture of ceremonies, customs, and superstitions.

Dust Tracks on a Road

‘I have been in Sorrow’s kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows with a harp and a sword in my hands.’ First published in 1942 at the crest of her popularity, this is Zora Neale Hurston’s unrestrained account of her rise from childhood poverty in the rural South to prominence among the leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance. Full of wit and wisdom, and audaciously spirited, ‘Dust Tracks on a Road‘ offers a rare, poignant glimpse of the life public and private of a premier African American writer, artist, anthropologist and champion of the black heritage.’Warm, witty, imaginative, and down to earth by turns, this is a rich and winning book by one of our genuine, Grade A, folk writers.’ ‘ The New Yorker’

Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings

The second of a two volume collection follows a theme of African American heritage and folklore and includes Mules and Men, Tell My Horse, Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings, and Hurston’s controversial autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road.

Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters (With: Carla Kaplan)

A landmark collection of more than five hundred letters written by a woman at the heart of the Harlem Renaissanc an author who remains one of the most intriguing people in American cultural history. Alice Walker’s 1975 Ms. magazine article ‘Looking for Zora’ reintroduced Zora Neale Hurston to the American literary landscape, and ushered in a virtual renaissance for a writer who was a bestselling author at her peak in the 1930s, but died penniless and in obscurity some three decades later. Since that rediscovery of novelist, anthropologist, playwright, folklorist, essayist, and poet Zora Neale Hurston, her books from the classic love story Their Eyes Were Watching God to her controversial autobiography, Dust Tracks on the Road have sold millions of copies. Hurston is now taught in American, African American, and women’s studies courses in high schools and universities from coast to coast. Now, in Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters, the fascinating life of one of the most enigmatic literary figures of the twentieth century comes alive. Through letters to Harlem Renaissance friends Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, Dorothy West, and Carl Van Vechten, and to bestselling author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Fannie Hurst, among others, readers experience the exuberance and trials of Hurston s life. Her letters to her patron, Mrs. Charlotte ‘Godmother’ Osgood Mason, are laced with equal amounts of cynicism and reverence, and offer a fascinating glimpse of the perilously thin line Hurston tread to maintain vital monetary support as she pursued her art and avant garde lifestyle which included crossing the country collecting folklore, and a job as story editor at Paramount Pictures in the 1940s. Meticulously edited and annotated, this landmark collection of letters will provide her fans, as well as those discovering Hurston for the first time, with a penetrating and profound portrait into the life, writings four novels, a play, an autobiography, and countless essays, and impressive imagination of one of the most amazing characters to grace American letters.

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