Richard Nathaniel Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) was an American author of novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially related to the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, who suffered discrimination and violence in the South and the North. Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the United States in the mid-20th century.

African-American author Richard Wright's book The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference (Cleveland and New York: World, 1956) is based on his impressions and analysis of the postcolonial Asian-African Conference, which was a gathering of representatives from 29 independent Asian and African countries, held in the city of Bandung, Indonesia, April 18–24, 1955. In addition to drawing on its author's experience as a reporter at the conference, The Color Curtain bases its analysis of the postcolonial world on Wright's interactions with several modern Indonesian writers and intellectuals. Since its publication in 1956, Wright's Indonesian travelogue has been a prominent first-hand account of the Bandung Conference.