Upcoming...Incoming NYC Area: Black History Month + AWP Book Events, & March 2008 National Black Writers Conference (Post #1)

(See Post #2 here)

If only I had five embodiments of myself and no need for sleep, but alas, no such luck, and I do like actually sleeping now and again. Or just germinating...

But in the hopes that I get to see some of this, I'm listing it below and will probably add to it as I hear about more events. Along with various Black History Month events New York City (and surrounding environs) is also hosting the Annual Associated Writing Programs Conference (AWP). Plus announcement has already gone out for the 2008 Ninth National Black Writers Conference to be held at Medgar Evers College (CUNY) in Brooklyn (see below)

Along with the February 9th Leroy Jenkins tribute at the Brooklyn Public Library, here are some more Black History Month Events, with off-site (and more or less affiliated) AWP events listed first, including a historic Latina/o poetry reading on February 1st (see below):

•••Selected AWP Events•••






January 30, 2008
2nd Annual Cave Canem Fellows Reading
The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery
New York, New York
212.614.0505
Cover: $10
Time: 10:00PM

"Cave Canem: A Home for Black Poetry" and so much more, people...come out and support the legacy & continuing history...
Fellows Michelle Berry, DeLana Dameron, Kyle Dargan, LaTasha Nevada Diggs, Krista Franklin, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Richard Hamilton; Myronn Hardy, Randall Horton, Marcus Jackson, Amanda Johnston, Jacqueline Jones LaMon, Ana-Maurine Lara, Ernesto Mercer, Dante Micheaux, Indigo Moor, Nicole Sealey, Shia Shabazz, Evie Shockley, and Bianca Spriggs take a poetry marathon to New York City’s literary hot spot. $10 cover charge.

Directions to Bowery Poetry Club: foot of First Street, between Houston & Bleecker
across the street from (what was CBGBs--R.I.P.)
F train to Second Ave, or 6 train to Bleecker
Cave Canem Calender


January 31, 2008
• 6:00PM
The Affrilachian Poets @ The Nuyorican Poets Café
236 East 3rd Street, between Avenues B and C
(Closest Subway Stop is "2nd Avenue" on the F Train)
Admission: $7 student, $10 general
Featuring: Kelly Norman Ellis, Ellen Hagan, Parneshia Jones, Amanda Johnston, Hao Wang, Mitchell L. H. Douglas, Bianca Spriggs, Natasha Marin, Marta Miranda and special guest Rane Arroyo. Web: www.affrilachianpoets.com.

• 6:00PM
Harlem Book Fair Presents: Grace Edwards
Teachers & Writers Collaborative
520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2020
Cost: $20 admission includes free, signed copy of book.
I'm not a fan of Edward's Mali Anderson mystery series, but this is a part of the Harlem Book Fair's 10th Anniversary Celebration series. Plus Teachers & Writers Collaborative has a number of interesting upcoming author readings including Thomas Glave, Tracy K. Smith, and Yusef Komunyakaa.

• 7:00PM - 10:00PM
Courting Risk: Multicultural, Multi-genre, Multidimensional Women
Macaulay Center
Macaulay Honors College
35 W. 67th Street
Cost: Free
Complimentary refreshments will be provided. There might even be some music and interactive performance art thrown in. Stick around after for a book signing and art sale. For more information, please visit our website: www.courtingrisk.com. Featured Readers: Esther Belin, Naomi Benaron, M. L. Brown, Ching-In Chen (pictured below right), DéLana R. A. Dameron, Ashaki M. Jackson (pictured above right), Anne Liu Kellor, Natasha Marin, Maureen Owens, Khadijah Queen, Susan Southard.






February 1, 2008
6:00pm
Acentos Bronx Poetry Showcase
Historic Assemblage of Latina/o Poets
"Acentos brings you this historic reading. Please come out and support. This reading will be the biggest gathering of latino poets under one roof. This is your opportunity to meet legends." (photo: Acentos staff with Martín Espada (seated))

ACENTOS SPECIAL EVENT: A Gathering and Celebration of Latino and Latina Poets @ Hunter College, School of Social Work,
129 E. 79th Street (Corner of 79th and Lexington),
New York, New York
Cost : Free
Time:6:00pm

To coincide with the AWP conference, Acentos and El Centro de Estudios
Puertorriqueñ Puertorriqueños at Hunter College present a celebra more than twenty emerging and established poets of Latino/a descent. Scheduled readers include: Martín Espada, Rafael Campo, Sandra Maria Esteves, Aracelis Girmay, Willie Perdomo, Diana Marie Delgado, John Murillo, and many more! Hosted by Rich Villar.

Directions: 6 Train to 77th Street. Walk two blocks north to 79th Street and Lexington Avenue. The School of Social Work is located on the northwest corner of 79th and Lexington.
Contact:
Fish Vargas
917-209-4211
Acentos MySpace Page

• 7:00PM
A Reading of Queer Writers of Color
Teachers & Writers Collaborative
520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2020
2020 VISIONS: Felicia Luna Lemus, Jericho Brown (pictured right), and Thomas Glave. Free wine and cheese and other goodies. http://www.twc.org/events

February 2
1:00PM - 3:00PM
Book Celebration: "On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail"
NYPL, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Join Charles E. Cobb, Jr. in celebrating the publication of On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail. With real grassroots stories in the words of those who lived it, Charles E. Cobb leads us from Washington, D.C., through eight Southern states to visit the places where the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement fought for freedom. A book signing will follow the presentation.

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Month of February 2008
Brooklyn Academy of Music hosts Chris Rob (pictured right), Nadir, Soul Summit and the Black Rock Coalition (featuring Dragons of Zynth, Honeychild Coleman (pictured below left [with a little nod to Tom Terrell, R.I.P.]), Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, and Rachid is Rasalus among others) at BAMcafé Live during February.

Check out the full program here

BAMcafé Live is curated by Darrell M. McNeill

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February 16 - June 29, 2008
African Voices + The Big Read Honor Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God
• The Big Read Kicks-off in the Big Apple at the Schomburg Center
Saturday, February 16th
3:00PM - 6:00PM

Actress Ruby Dee, Author Lucy Anne Hurston will join NYC’s Celebration of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

The Big Read arrives in the Big Apple next month with a series of book-centered events honoring Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. The Big Read is a nationwide program designed by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to revitalize the role of literary reading in American culture. Actresses Ruby Dee and Kim Brockington, author Lucy Anne Hurston and other special guests will join African Voices and the Brooklyn Public Library on Feb. 23at the Brooklyn Public Library, Grand Army Plaza. The Big Read will officially kick-off on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 3 pm at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, located at 515 Malcolm X Blvd. (135th Street & Lenox Ave.). The Brooklyn Public Library is hosting 18 book discussions and two film screenings in neighborhoods throughout the borough.

For information call
(212) 865-2982 or visit African Voices Magazine Big Read 2008
Zora Neal Hurston Big Read Schedule
See also, the Schomburg Center Programs Calendar

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Friday, March 28, 2008 - Sunday, March 30, 2008
• 2008 Ninth National Black Writers Conference

from the press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Chris Hundley, 718-270-6926
For Program Information, 718 270-6976

The Ninth National Black Writers Conference

Black Writers: Reading and Writing to Transform Their Lives and the World

"NEW YORK - The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY will host the Ninth National Black Writers Conference (NBWC) Black Writers: Reading and Writing to Transform Their Lives and the World on Friday, March 28, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008. The Conference is dedicated to the centennial of Richard Wright's birth. Featured authors include Randall Robinson, Cornel West, Julia Wright and the notable Susan L. Taylor as the Honorary Conference Chair.

"The three -day conference, to be held on the Medgar Evers College campus in Brooklyn, NY, will feature discussions, youth workshops, talkshops, author readings and signings. In addition, an array of vendors will be on display at the NBWC marketplace. Early registration at discounted rates for the biennial conference has already begun.

"The 2008 Ninth National Black Writers Conference: Black Writers: Reading and Writing to Transform Their Lives and the World draws upon famous novelist Marita Golden's concept of the transformative power of literature and focuses on the ways in which black writers use literature to transform their lives and the larger global community. It examines this concept of literature as transformative from historical, cultural, and political perspectives...

"As part of its tribute and recognition to black writers, there will be a special Awards Program and VIP Reception on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 6:30 pm. Conference attendees must register for this program. Sonia Sanchez will receive the lifetime literary award. Other honorees for the Conference include Susan L. Taylor, Randall Robinson, Cornel West and Cheryl and Wade Hudson of Just Us Books.

"The Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza will host a special pre-conference Reading on March 9th at 1:30 pm by acclaimed author John Edgar Wideman. Wideman's most recent book is Fanon: A Novel.

"The NBWC's list of confirmed participants for the main program consist of such literary visionaries, scholars, poets, and publishers as Amiri Baraka, John Edgar Wideman, Jerry Ward, Brenda Marie Osbey, Thulani Davis, Quincy Troupe, Kevin Powell, David Durham, Terry McMillan, Nancy Rawles, Jabari Asim, Valerie Kinloch, Eisa Ulen, Thomas Bradshaw, Valerie Boyd, Fred Beauford, Regina Brooks, Martha Southgate, Tayari Jones, Thomas Glave, William Jelani Cobb, Angela Dodson, Jaira Placide, Kassahun Checole, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and Thomas Ellis Sayers, just to name a few.

"For further information about this historic literary event and for conference updates, please call 718 270-4811, email:nbwc@mec.cuny.edu, or visit the conference website at www.mec.cuny.edu/nbwc.