Great Books About Deaf Art

...are really hard to come by!

We have searched for all the best Deaf art books. We have checked them out and read their reviews. Sadly, there aren't that many to choose from. But, we can say that the ones listed below are recommended.

Deaf Artists in America: Colonial to Contemporary by Deborah M. Sonnenstrahl This book was long overdue. We do not know of any other book that focuses on the beauty of the visual arts created by Deaf people in such a magnificent way. We highly recommend this book, first and foremost, if you are interested in learning more about Deaf art.

Pictures in the Air: The Story of the National Theatre of the Deaf by Stephen C. Baldwin This is a great book about how the National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) was started. It recounts the struggles the founders went through, the controversy with oralism versus sign language, as well as meetings with many famous Deaf actors and actresses. This is a must-read for anyone wishing to be involved in ASL or Deaf Theatre.

Deaf American Literature: From Canival to the Canon by Cynthia Peters This book was required for my Deaf American Literature class. Literature is very prominent in Deaf Culture, and this book greatly explains the Deaf Literature movement and the implications of it as well as how the Deaf artists and performers jumped between two languages and cultures during this movement. We recommend it!

Angels and Outcasts: An Anthology of Deaf Characters in Literature by Trent Batson (Editor), Eugene Bergman (Editor) This book is a great compilation of Deaf literature from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as well as from Deaf authors. This was a required book for my Deaf American Literature class, and we highly recommend it! It gives a great insight into Deaf culture and the arts therein.

Deaf Proverbs: A Proverbial Professor's Points to Ponder by Ken Glickman We also recommend this book for any ASL student. This book is another compilation of writings from many authors. They delve mostly into topics surrounding Deaf identity, how Deaf identity intersects with sexuality, family, gender, race, and disability, and how Deaf culture shows insight to issues of language, identity, power, and society's view of normalcy.

I know, I know, this list is disappointingly short! Please help us add to it if you have a Deaf art book that you like!

If you have a favorite book about Deaf culture art that is not mentioned on this page, please contact us and let us know. We will gladly add it to this list.

You can also read more about Deaf art on our Deaf Culture Art page.

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