CONFERENCE: National Black Writers Conference
Thursday, March 29-Sunday, April 1
Website: nationalblackwritersconference.org
Major funding provided by: National Endowment for the Arts
Media support provided by: African American Literature Book Club, AKILA Worksongs, Inc.
Website: nationalblackwritersconference.org
Facebook: facebook.com/NationalBlackWritersConference| Twitter: @NBWConference

*Visit website for schedule of events*

As our society becomes increasingly globalized, the themes in the literary texts and literature created by black writers throughout the African diasporic communities of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe are shifting and expanding in varying ways. There is recognition of the importance and value of preserving cultural memory and identity and of cultivating and nurturing cultural and geographical spaces. At the same time, there is also a recognition that politics and popular culture shape what we respond to, what we read, what gets published, what we teach, and what conversations we have in our literary communities, in the media, in our educational institutions, in our work environments, and in our homes.

Through novels, stories, poems, plays, memoirs, and essays, black writers have explored the importance of memory on our concepts of self and family. They have examined the impact of popular culture on our personal lives, belief systems, values, and traditions. And they have chronicled what happens when we neglect and do not nurture our natural environment. In essence, they have used the power of words and the literary arts to stir our imagination and to motivate us to affirm, critique, and reflect on our responses to personal, societal, and environmental issues in our lives. The Eleventh National Black Writers Conference will provide writers, scholars, literary professionals, students, and the general public with a forum for engaging in dynamic and spirited conversations, panel discussions, readings, workshops, and performances on themes related to migration, cultural memory, popular culture, and the natural environment.

2012 NBWC Honorees

• Ishmael Reed – John Oliver Killens Lifetime Achievement Award
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o – W. E. B. Du Bois Award
• Nikki Giovanni - Gwendolyn Brooks Award
• Dr. Howard Dodson – Ida B. Wells Institutional Leadership Award

Saturday, March 17, 2012 @ 4pm
Central Library, Dweck Center, located in the Brooklyn Public Library (Grand Army Plaza, 10 Grand Army Plaza  Brooklyn, NY 11238)

Finney Reads from Head Off & Split, which recently won the National Book Award. The reading is presented in conjunction with the National Black Writers Conference, www.nationalblackwritersconference.org.