The Ninth National Black Writers Conference
Conference Schedule

Updated January 7th 2008
Conference Program is subject to change

Conference Schedule
All Programs are in the FOUNDERS AUDITORIUM unless otherwise indicated.

Friday, March 28, 2008

9:00 am – 12:00 pm 
High School & College Students Sponsored by Big Read, African Voices

Zora Neale Hurston Program for High School Students
Film and Discussion
Valerie Boyd, Tayari Jones, Lindamichelle Baron - Presenters

Film on Zora Neale Hurston
Panel Discussion on Zora Neale Hurston


9:00 am – 11:00 am
Middle & Elementary School Workshops Sponsored by The Links Incorporated

Middle School Workshop –
Medgar Evers Preparatory School
Gregory Walker
Memnon Series– Reading, Writing, Talk
Location: Lecture Hall S122

Workshops Sponsored by PEN American Center
Session I -Fiction, Memoir, Poetry – High School Students
Locations: TBD


12:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Middle School Workshop - Fifth Grade

Omari Jerimah and Jaira Placide
Location: N. B. Johnson Lecture Hall B20__

Elementary School Workshop – Third to Fifth Grade
Tonya Bolden
Location: Classroom B10__

Workshops Sponsored by PEN American Center
Session II -Fiction, Memoir, Poetry – High School Students
Locations: TBD

3:30 - 5:00 pm

Poetry Café
Sponsored by Urban Word & College Now Office of Collaborative Programs

Poets – Roger Bonair, Lynne Procope
Student Poets
Location: Cafeteria Annex

Elder’s Writing Presentation
Sponsored by Poets and Writers
Location: N. B. Johnson Lecture Hall B20__ or Lecture Hall S122


5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Opening Reception & Award Program for Randall Robinson and Susan L. Taylor

Sponsored by Caribbean American Chamber of Congress, Center for Nu Leadership, Center for Caribbean Research, Center for Law and Social Justice, and DuBois Bunch Center for Public Policy
Location: President’s Conference Center


6:30 – 7:45 pm
Official Conference Opening

8:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Randall Robinson Talk

Panel Discussion: Representations of Male Images in Literature by Black Writers
Thomas Glave, William Jelani Cobb, Nathan McCall, Kevin Powell
Moderated by Patrick Henry Bass

9:30 pm – 10:00 pm-
Book Signings

Saturday, March 29, 2008

11:00 am – 5:00 pm
NBWC Reading Series

Brooklyn Literary Council
Caribbean Research Center
Tinhouse Magazine
MEC English Department
AKILA WORKSONGS & the Fatherhood Project


10:00 am – 11:30 am
Panel Discussions

Roundtable: Impact of Katrina and 911 on Literature by Black Writers
Jerry Ward, Brenda Marie Osbey, Thulani Davis, Kevin Powell


11:45 am – 12:45 pm Poetry Panel, Reading and Discussion
Erica Hunt, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Quincy Troupe
Moderated by Patricia Spears Jones


2:00 pm – 3:15 pm
Panel: Historical Representations of Resistance and Transformation in Black Literature

Valerie Kinloch, David Durham, Lawrence Jackson, Nancy Rawles
Moderated by Jacqueline Brice-Finch


3:30 pm – 4:45 pm
Panel: Resistance and Reconciliation: Transforming Our Lives through Narrative

Martha Southgate, Tayari Jones, Eisa Ulen, Honoree Jeffers
Moderated by Farah Jasmine Griffith


5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Cornel West: Transforming Our Lives, Transforming the World
Cornel West


6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
VIP Reception and Awards Program
Sponsored by the Office of the President, Medgar Evers College, Edison O. Jackson
Sonia Sanchez, Cheryl and Wade Hudson as Honorees
Location: Charles Evans Inniss Library


 

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Talkshops

10:00 am – 11:15 am
 Session I

Publishing in Literary Magazines; TBA

Poetry: Quraysh Ali Lansana

Dramatic Writing: Thomas Bradshaw

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Session II

Fiction: Donna Hill

Creative Non Fiction (Memoirs) - Asha Bandele

Book Proposals: Regina Brooks
 

1:00 pm – 2:15 pm

Panel: Writers, Agents, Editors, and Publishers on Black Literature
Moderated by: Angela Dodson
Kassahun Checole, Fred Beauford, Regina Brooks

 

2:30 pm – 3:45 pm -
Dedicated to Memory of Richard Wright
Julia Wright and Amiri Baraka

 

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Publishing and Selling Black Literature
Conversation: Terry McMillan & Jabari Asim

 

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm Conference Wrap Up and Closing

 

Read the January 12, 2008 Press Release

Related Links

The Ninth National Black Writers Conference: An Evolving Process
A reflective piece by Dr. Brenda M. Greene, Executive Director Center for Black Literature
http://events.aalbc.com/the_nbwc_an_evolving_process.htm

National Black Writers Conference 2000
Report from the Field by Kalamu ya Salaam
http://events.aalbc.com/nat'l1.htm