I don't know what issues concerning identity have helped contemporary fiction evolve to what it is now. All I know is that the range of voices that are being heard and published is a lot more diverse than when I was coming up.
I listen to every thing, all kinds of stuff. I've been obsessed with the Nas and Damian Marley record, 'Distant Relatives.' I feel like a lot of people haven't heard it, and it's amazing.
I have 800 books of just Samuel Beckett's work, tons of his correspondence, personal letters that he wrote. I have copies of plays he used when he directed, so all of his handwritten notes are in the corners of the page.