Claude McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance and wrote four novels: Home to Harlem, a best-seller which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo, Banana Bottom and in 1941 the manuscript of a novel that has not yet been published called Amiable With Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of Harlem. McKay also authored a collection of short stories, Gingertown, two autobiographical books, A Long Way from Home and My Green Hills of Jamaica, and a non-fiction, socio-historical treatise entitled Harlem: Negro Metropolis. His 1922 book of poetry, Harlem Shadows, was among the first books published during the Harlem Renaissance. His poetry collection, Selected Poems, was published posthumously, in 1953. McKay was attracted to communism in his early life, but he was never a member of the Communist Party.