Reed, Ishmael

Reed, Ishmael (Scott) (Emmett Coleman, pen name) (1938–  ) writer, poet; born in Chattanooga, Tenn. He studied at the University of Buffalo (1956–60), and was a founder of the East Village Other, a newspaper in New York (1965). He moved to Berkeley, Calif., and established the Yardbird Publishing Company (1971) and a communications company (1973). He began as a poet, but is best known for his freewheeling satirical novels using African-American themes and linguistic styles.