The Ninth National Black Writers Conference
An Evolving Process
A reflective piece by Dr. Brenda M. Greene, Executive Director Center for Black Literature
 

The Ninth National Black Writers Conference: Black Readers and Writers: Transforming Their Lives. Transforming the World An Evolving Process

It is with great excitement that I look forward to one of Medgar Evers College’s most anticipated events, the National Black Writers Conference (NBWC) sponsored by the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College. This celebration of writers and scholars will be held from Friday, March 28 through Sunday, March 30, 2008. 

The process of organizing and planning for a conference is a multi-layered and comprehensive one and the Ninth Black Writers Conference (NBWC) most definitely attests to that.  Planning for the Ninth NBWC began in 2006 almost immediately after the Eighth National Black Writers Conference when I submitted a proposal to the NEA.  In preparation for the submission of this proposal I called upon my colleagues in the literary world and on the advisory board of the Center for Black Literature (CBL).  I am especially indebted to Ethelbert Miller, literary activist based at Howard University, Colin Channer, novelist at Medgar Evers College, Gregory Pardlo, poet at Medgar Evers College, Dale Allender, Associate Executive Director of the National Council of Teachers of English, Susan McHenry, Senior Editor of Black Issues Book Review, and Richard Jones, CBL Advisory Board Member.  This team helped me to formulate the conceptual framework for the conference.  We went back and forth with notes, names of writers, etc.  My challenge was to sort through all of the recommendations, feedback, etc and to develop a seamless narrative for my proposal to the NEA.  I am also indebted to the writers who agreed to participate in the Conference before I knew I had adequate funding to support the Conference.  These writers served as the core of writers who agreed to address the Conference theme.

After submitting the grant for the Conference I worked to secure funding from other sources.  I also established a conference committee composed of the CBL’s Program Director, dedicated volunteers and several paid consultants.  Our conference committee is continually expanding and it truly embodies the concept that it takes a village. We call upon the college community and friends of CBL for our support.  I also continue to call upon and receive support from the initial team as well as from President Jackson of Medgar Evers College.  The process for the planning and execution of this Conference is an evolving one that requires a collective spirit and energy.

The National Black Writers Conference has become such an institution that many writers agree to participate just because they are pleased to have an opportunity to be part of the experience.  They treasure being in the company of so many writers and as John Edgar Wideman, Center for Black Literature Advisory Board Member and participant at several National Black Writers Conferences reminded me, it’s not about the money.  This Conference is truly the realization of the dream of John Oliver Killens, the founder and visionary leader for the first Conference that was held at Medgar Evers College Although we hold the Conference every two years rather than every year as Killens desired, we are ensuring that writers, readers, booksellers and others in the literary world come together to discuss and document the issues, themes and direction of black literature.

One of the niches of the National Black Writers Conference is that we are not solely an academic conference although the Conference takes place at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.  We take care to invite writers who dress our conference theme.  We believe in introducing our audience to writers they may not normally encounter in traditional bookstores and in their schools. Our goal is to expand the readership of black literature.  Thus we attempt to reach a broad range of people: writers, booksellers, agents, editors, the general public, students, educators and academics.  We also try to reach an intergenerational audience and to ensure that our conference participants represent emerging as well as more established writers.  In short, we want to have one large gathering of readers and writers that is representative of a cross-range of people.

The theme of the ninth conference builds on the theme of the 2006 National Black Writers Conference sponsored by the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College which explored the ways in which black writers are working in all literary genres and are taking new directions in those genres. Conference panelists responded to the theme: Black Literature: Expanding Conversations on Race, Identity, History, and Genre and addressed issues such as the complexity of identity and race, the blurring of genres, and the rise in speculative fiction, memoir, biography, and historical fiction.  Panelists discussed the ways in historical narratives portrayed the complexity of the racial history of black people and redefined the past and future. They analyzed the impact of multiculturalism and the ways in which black writers portrayed issues of race and identity; and they discussed how speculative fiction allowed black writers to create alternative realities where they were the centered, realities where race did not necessarily make a difference, or cautionary tales as those portrayed by the late Octavia Butler. 

Our upcoming Ninth National Black Writers Conference will explore the ways in which black writers use literature as sites of transformation: aesthetically, culturally, historically, and politically.  Through panels, conversations, and readings, writers and scholars will reflect on how the literature of black writers is informed by this paradigm and will pose their thoughts on future directions for black literature.  In an interview, author Marita Golden noted, writers have a responsibility to transform the world.  In her view, writers do not write for readers but for themselves and in writing for themselves they create avenues and in doing so may transform the world.  

Some of the questions we wish to raise are as follows:

I do hope that you find the conversations and discussion from this Conference to be stimulating and thought provoking.  We are creating history and providing a venue to enjoy, critique, celebrate and remember those who painstakingly take the time to document through literature our joys, triumphs, experiences and history.  We are empowering our writers and empowering ourselves as readers. Please visit our website and look for our book Meditations and Ascensions: Black Writers on Writing which will be published by Third World Press in time for the Conference.  This book represents the proceedings of the 2006 NBWC.

Look forward to seeing you at the Conference.