Considered one of the most innovative prose writers at work today, Barry Beckham has impressed legions of readers with his novels and nonfiction articles. He has also published college guides for black students and one dramatic work about Marcus Garvey. At age 25, Beckham published his first novel, My Main Mother in 1969, a month after his first published article appeared in Esquire. Begun in his senior year at Brown University, the novel describing a young black man's search for identity received widespread critical acclaim. A year later he was back at Brown -- on the faculty this time, where he remained for 17 years teaching creative writing and black literature. After teaching two years at Hampton University, Beckham retired in 1987 to become a freelance writer and book publisher.