The Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color
Thursday, February 22 - Sunday, February 25, 2024
Deadline: Friday, December 15, 2023
Opportunities
Teaching Artist Position
The Center for Black Literature is seeking Part-Time Teaching Artists for its Re-Envisioning Our Lives through Literature (ROLL) program. The premise of ROLL is that literature should be integrated into the English Language Arts curriculum in creative ways that may include drama, poetry, the spoken word, and story.
The emphasis of this program is to incorporate African diaspora literature into the classroom. Through reading, studying, and writing about this literature, students build their knowledge base about literature from another culture, expand their knowledge of diverse cultures, and improve their critical reading and writing skills.
Learn more about the ROLL program here.
Deadline: Monday, December 18, 2023
A Call for Papers
17th National Black Writers Conference (NBWC2024)
"All That We Carry: Where Do We Go From Here?"
in the work of
Bernice McFadden, Paul Coates, Peniel Joseph,
Percival Everett, and/or John Oliver Killens
Deadline: Friday, January 19, 2024
The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY (CBL), presents the 17th National Black Writers Conference, “All That We Carry: Where Do We Go From Here?” This public gathering of writers, scholars, literary professionals, theater and film luminaries, students, and the public will take place March 20-23rd, 2024. Honorees for the Conference are author Bernice McFadden, publisher Paul Coates, scholar Peniel Joseph, and writer Percival Everett.
CBL invites proposals on the work of Bernice McFadden, Paul Coates, Peniel Joseph, Percival Everett, and/or John Oliver Killens that examine the ways in which Black writers draw from oral histories and ancestral stories to craft stories that evoke memory, respond to present-day realities, and inspire visions of more liberatory futures. See application for complete guidelines.
Writers on Writing with Dr. Brenda M. Greene
Writers on Writing Interview with Breena Clarke
Original Air Date: Sunday, November 5, 2023
Dr. Brenda Greene interviews Breena Clarke, author of Alive Nearby, River Cross My Heart, Stand the Storm, and Angels Make Their Hope Here. Greene and Clarke discuss Clarke’s historically rich novels that chronicle the Black experience from the Civil War and to the present. Alive Nearby builds on Clarke’s previous novels and is a stirring epistolary on grief and the importance of memory.
Writers on Writing Interview with Ahmed Abdullah
Air: Sunday, October 8, 2023 and Sunday, October 15, 2023
Dr. Brenda Greene interviews Ahmed Abdullah, a jazz trumpeter and member of the Sun Ra Arkestra. In A Strange Celestial Road, My Time in the Sun Ra Arkestra (Blank Forms Edition, 2023), Ahmed’s memoir recounts his personal story and two decades of traveling with Sun Ra, the composer, pianist, and big-band leader. Joining Greene and Abdullah for the discussion, is his wife of 30 years, Monique Ngozi Nri, a writer and musician whose life was also affected by the Sun Ra Arkestra.
About the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY
For 20 years, the programs of the Center for Black Literature (CBL) have had a dynamic impact in the literary field. The highly anticipated author readings and book signings, journals, symposia, conferences, panel discussions, and writing workshops—and the Center’s intellectual and accessible approach to programming—form an integrative approach to programming that sets CBL apart from others. CBL’s events are known for the way they ensure that Black literary scholarship and conversations are valued and sustained.
Contact Us
Center for Black Literature (CBL)
at Medgar Evers College, CUNY
1534 Bedford Avenue | 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11216
(Click HERE for the Postal Mailing Address)
Main Phone: (718) 804-8884
Main Office: info@centerforblackliterature.org
Donate to CBL Today!
To carry out our literary programs and special events, we depend on financial support from the public. Donations are welcome year-round. Please click HERE to donate. Thank you!
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The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College is supported in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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