Zora Neale Hurston was a writer and anthropologist who was best known for writing the classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God. While her work was known in her life, it wasn’t until after she died that she started to receive the type of recognition that she deserved for her writing.

Hurston was born as the daughter to two former slaves. She graduated from Howard University with an associate degree and then moved to New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in the 1920s. It was there that she became well known in the city’s art scene and began her writing career. One of her first acclaimed works was the short story, Sweat that told the story of a woman dealing with an unfaithful husband who takes her money, before receiving his comeuppance.

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Seraph on the Suwanee (1948)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Barracoon (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Mules and Men (1935)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again (1979)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Hurston Reader (1979)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Sanctified Church (1981)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Spunk! (1985)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Complete Stories (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Novels and Stories (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Zora Neale Hurston: Stories (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Zora Neale Hurston: Plays (1998)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Go Gator and Muddy the Water (1999)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Every Tongue Got to Confess (2001)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
In Search of Our Sister's Garden (2003)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
What's the Hurry, Fox? (2004)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Skull Talks Back (2004)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Lies and Other Tall Tales (2005)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Bookmarks in the Pages of Life (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Collected Early Works (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Plays

(with Langston Hughes)

Mule Bone (With: Langston Hughes) (1930)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Three Plays: Lawing and Jawing; Forty Yards; Woofing (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
De Turkey an de Law (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Spunk: A Play (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Three Plays: Meet the Mamma, Color Struck and Spunk (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Color Struck (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Picture Books

The Three Witches (With: Joyce Carol Thomas) (2006)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Magnolia Flower (With: Ibram X. Kendi) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

How It Feels to Be Colored Me (1928)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Tell My Horse (1938)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Dust Tracks on a Road (1942)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Bottle Up and Go (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Complete Essays (1997)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Collected Essays (1998)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters (With: Carla Kaplan) (2002)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays (With: Henry Louis Gates,Genevieve West) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Langston Hughes Plays

(with Langston Hughes)

Mule Bone (With: Langston Hughes) (1930)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Simply Heavenly (By: Langston Hughes) (1957)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Five Plays (By: Langston Hughes) (1963)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Black Nativity (By: Langston Hughes) (1992)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas (MELA) Books

(with Lin Yutang)

Chinatown Family (By: Lin Yutang,C. Lok Chua) (1950)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Chinatown Family (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas (By: Lin Yutang,C. Lok Chua) (1950)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Anthologies

The Saturday Review Gallery(1959)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Best Short Stories by Black Writers(1967)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Roots of African American Drama: An Anthology of Early Plays, 1858-1938(1990)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Louisiana Stories(1990)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Florida Stories(1993)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Writing Women's Lives(1994)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Downhome(1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Prize Plays and Other One-Acts Published in Periodicals(1996)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Writing New York(1998)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Messenger Reader Stories, Poetry, and Essays from The Messenger Magazine(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Mothers Through the Eyes of Women Writers(2001)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Rotten English: A Literary Anthology(2007)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Letters to Change the World: From Pankhurst to Orwell(2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Genuine Black and White Magic of Marie Laveau(2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
American Midnight(2019)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Miami Noir(2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library(2021)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

If You Like Zora Neale Hurston Books, You’ll Love…

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story told by its main character, Janie Crawford. she tells her friend her life story in a beautiful language and her life is rather interesting with many ups and downs, filled with pain and love. Janie tells of her Nanny who saw what pain did to her daughter and promises not to let it happen to her granddaughter. She didn’t want what happened to happen to her grandchild and nothing mattered, even if Janie was unhappy. The story goes on to tell of the years after Emancipation when the slaves were freed, but life was still rather difficult. The story mixes real history of this time with strong female characters and is a beloved classic.

Hurston is also the author of Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance that collects many of her short works from the period of the Harlem Renaissance that captured the zeitgeist of African American life at the time.

Order of Books » Authors » Order of Zora Neale Hurston Books

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