Black Writers Conference, Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn NY, March 27-30, 2014

The Twelfth National Black Writers Conference “Reconstructing the Master Narrative” The Center for Black Literature Celebrates Its Tenth Anniversary at the National Black Writers Conference Date: Thurs., March 27– Sun., March 30, 2014 Location: Medgar Evers College, CUNY 1650 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11225 For more information call The Center for Black Literature at 718-804-8883 or email them atwriters@mec.cuny.edu Conference Overview Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott In an interview with Bill Moyers in March of 1990 for his television series A World of Ideas, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison defines the master narrative as whatever ideological script that is being imposed by the people in authority on everybody else. In other words, the master narrative is created by those in power. Thus, the master narrative is shaped by a certain viewpoint. In analyzing the master narrative found in literature, we examine what texts are present and which ones are omitted. It is important that we consciously take the steps to ensure that the master narrative encompasses the Black literary tradition—past and present. The National Black Writers Conference (NBWC) offers us an opportunity to present to the public the complexity of the texts produced by Black writers throughout the African Diaspora. The 2014 NBWC theme of “Black Writers Reconstructing the Master Narrative” builds on previous NBWCs and takes into account the need to expose the general public to the vast range of texts that Black writers throughout the diaspora are producing. Using this theme as the premise of this public gathering of writers, students, literary agents, editors and the general public will have an opportunity to attend panels, roundtables and readings, participate in workshops, and take in performances over the four days of the Conference. Dr. Myrlie Evers-Williams is the Honorary Chair of the 2014 National Black Writers Conference. The honorees for the Twelfth NBWC are:Maryse Condé, Walter Mosley, Quincy Troupe, Derek Walcott, and posthumously to Margaret Burroughs. The National Black Writers Conference is a public program that will provide writers, scholars, literary professionals, students, and the general public with a forum for expanding their knowledge and reading of Black literature and for engaging in dynamic and spirited conversations, panel discussions, readings, workshops, and performances on conference themes and on future trends in the literature of Black writers. The Conference will also pay tribute to and celebrate Black writers who have made significant contributions to the literary canon and will provide emerging writers with opportunities to improve their writing craft. Conference panels, roundtables, and featured speeches will be streamed and videotaped. Selected proceedings will be published. 2014 National Black Writers Conference Preconference Events Angela Davis Featured Speaker “Audre Lorde: A Burst of Light Symposium ” Featuring Keynote Speaker Angela Davis Free and Open to the Public Date: Saturday, March 22, 2014 Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Location: Medgar Evers College, Founders Auditorium 1650 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11225 In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Center for Black Literature will partner with The Du Bois-Bunche Center for Public Policy, MEC’s English Department and the Center for Women’s Development to pay tribute to the legacy of the feminist poet and writer Audre Lorde. The program will focus on promoting dialogue concerned with the intersectionality of race, gender, class, and sexual identity in Lorde’s works. Guest participants include activist and scholar Angela Davis; Steven Fullwood, assistant curator of the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and asha bandele, human rights advocate, poet, journalist, and the award-winning author. During the program, there will also be a tribute to Esther Cooper Jackson for her leadership as an editor and publisher of Freedomways Journal. Click here to RSVP for the Audre Lorde: A Burst of Light Symposium”. Wade and Cheryl Hudson 2014 NBWC Youth Day Program Date: Friday, March 21, 2014 Time: 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Location: Medgar Evers College, CUNY Founders Auditorium 1650 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11225 The Twelfth National Black Writers Conference will host a day of programs geared toward young readers. There will be presentations and readings during an Elementary School Program, coordinated by Just Us Books (9:30 to noon). Just Us Books’ Youth Literacy Program 9:30 a.m.: Welcome: Coordinated by Wade Hudson & Cheryl Willis Hudson, authors and founders of Just Us Books Inc. 9:41 a.m.: Giveaway Contest 10:00 a.m. Presentation by Calvin Alexander Ramsey, author of Ruth and the Green Book andBelle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend 10:31 a.m.: Students Reading their Poems & Giveaway Contest 11:00 a.m. Presentation with Jerry Craft, author/illustrator, Mama’s Boyz cartoon series andHillary’s Big Business Adventure and Looking to the Clouds for Daddy; and illustrator George Ford. 11:46 a.m.: – Noon: Giveaway Contest & Wrap-up 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Middle School Program with Greg Walker; and a High School Program coordinated by Nina Angela Mercer Author and poets DuEwa Frazier and Reginald Harris will share poetry and fiction and lead workshops. Twelfth National Black Writers Conference Program Pre-Registration for the 4 day conference is $65. This price does not include the VIP Reception or Talkshops. If you are a student, faculty member or a senior the 4 day conference is discounted to $30. Admission to the conference for one day is $25 or ($15 for student, faculty or seniors). These prices are valid until March 21, 2014. Register here. Thursday, March 27, 2014 Elders Writing Program 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (*subject to change) Location: Founders Auditorium Medgar Evers College Campus 1650 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11225 Members of the Elders Writers Workshop Presentation, Sponsored by JOK Workshop and Poets & Writers. jessica Care moore 2014 NBWC Poetry Cafe 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Location: Central Brooklyn Public Library Dweck Center 10 Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, NY 11238 This year’s Poetry Café is dedicated to the memory of Amiri Baraka, cosponsored by the Central Brooklyn Public Library and coordinated by Wendy Robinson and Tai Allen. Featured authors and poets include Tony Medina, jessica Care moore, Ed Mabrey, and the works of emerging poets. Friday, March 28, 2014 Tour of African Burial Ground 10 a.m. Limited to 60 people; tour led by T. Rasul Murray 290 Broadway, N.Y. Twelve Years a Slave Solomon Northup's Odyssey (1984) Films Celebrating Activism in Black Literature Noon to 4:00 p.m. Location: Medgar Evers College Founders Auditorium 1650 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11225 A selection of short films inspired by and with literary themes. Hosted by African Voices/Reel Sisters, the film presentation will include a screening of Gordon Parks’ Solomon Northup’s Odyssey, which premiered in 1984 and was based on the same book as the award-winning movie 12 Years a Slave. 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Film panel discussion with African Voices/Reel Sisters A Conversation with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott “The Search for Self in Caribbean Literature: Past, Present, and Future.” 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Founders Auditorium A Special Literary Event featuring Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. For this special literary event, poet and playwright Derek Walcott will be joined by the Trinidad-born poet Mervyn Taylor and St. Lucian poet and producer Adrian Augier to participate in a program titled “The Search for Self in Caribbean Literature: Past, Present, and Future.” The conversation will focus on Walcott’s writing life and explore the themes of identity, memory, belonging and spirituality in his work and in Caribbean literature. This program is presented in collaboration with the Center for Black Literature, the Caribbean Research Center and the Caribbean Cultural Theatre Inc. The program is supported with a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities. Click to attend the conversation with Derek Walcott $10 Donation 2014 NBWC Concert: Words Meet Music Jazz concert featuring pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs and recording artists and poets Dasan Ahanu and Tai Allen, and Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets. 9:00 p.m. Venue: Olivia 1073 Atlantic Ave. Brooklyn, New York 11238 Click to RSVP - $10 Donation Saturday, March 29, 2014 The NBWC Conference Reading Series Medgar Evers College, Edison O. Jackson Auditorium Academic Complex Building (AB1) 1638 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11225 Author readings sponsored by the African American Literature Book Club, the Brooklyn Literary Council, the Pan-African Literary Forum, and the Center for Black Literature. 2014 NBWC John Oliver Killens Reading Series Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ Brooklyn Literary Council Noon–12:25 p.m. Elsie Augustave, author of The RovingTree; 12:25 p.m.–12:50 p.m. Morowa Yejidé, author of Time of the Locust; 12:50 p.m. –1:15 p.m. Angel Nafis, BlackGirl Mansion African American Literature Book Club (AALBC.com) 1:20 p.m. –1:45 p.m. Kwei Quartey, author of Murder at Cape Three Points; 1:45 p.m. –2:10 p.m. Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, Black Star Nairobi.

Don't worry bout a ting!--Bob Marley

 The Black Dialogue Brothers who visited the  Black Culture Club at Soledad Prison, 1966, chaired by Eldridge Cleaver and Alprintis Bunchy Carter, who later become leaders in the Black Panther Party. Cleaver became Minister of Information and Alprintis Bunchy Carter became leader of the Los Angeles Chapter, but killed by the US organization agents for the FBI in the BSU meeting room on the campus of UCLA. Geronimo Pratt said forgive the sins of all those in the Black Liberation Movement. It is hard but I say to you I have forgiven those who killed my associates in the BLM; if the Arabs can forgive, we call also, after all, in revolution all things happens, again, all things happen, study the Cuban, Russian, Haitan, American, Chinese, and all other revolutions and see if everything was peaches and cream. Malcolm told you all revolutions are bloody, and I say so is the revolution of North American Africans. When you come to know revolution, you come to know changes and contradictions, nothing stays the same; enemies become friends and comrades, friends and comrades become enemies. All is in flux, motion, contradiction--there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests. Stay focused on your interests and never back down. Liberty or death!

Brothers reading at Marvin X's Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland.

Ishmael Reed says, "Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland."

Don't worry bout a ting
Bob Marley sing
why you worry bout a woman
women come
women go
just know this
ask any pimp
ask Fillmore Slim
how many of them ho's stayed
where they at today
ask Fillmore
dead
prison
mental hospital
even my daughters
nigguhs pimped them too
what could I say
what goes around
comes around
players get played
can I get a witness
wish I could tell you otherwise
truth is truth
say Amen
Hotep
Al Hamdulilah!
Don't worry bout a ting
flow in da flow
live in da no stress zone
Did ya git up dis morning?
THANKFUL AND THOUGHTFUL
THANKFUL AND THOUGHTFUL!
SLY STONE
FRANKIE SAY
JOY AND PAIN
SUN AND RAIN
BARAKA SAY
"Is it difficult faya?"
All praise is due Amiri Baraka!
Long live the BAM revolution!

Marvin X proposes a Black Arts Movement 27 City National Tour in honor of Amiri Baraka

Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X proposes a Black Arts Movement 27 City National Tour in honor of Amiri Baraka

 The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and musicians

 Senior poet Askia Toure and junior Marvin X. When Marvin X first arrived in Harlem NY, 1968, Askia was his guide! We talked of many things, Harold Cruse's Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, the Sufi writings of Rumi, Ghazali and the writings of Hazrat Inayat Khan; the writings of John Oliver Killins and his Harlem Writers Club. Marvin X received a writing grant from the Harlem Writers Club via Columbia University. Askia has received the National Book Award, et al.

Askia's poetry is flowing with beauty, love, history, culture and praise, especially for the Black woman. We saw him read at Spelman College and the response shook the room in the sound of praise for his poetic genius. It was the response to his poem about the Williams sisters and his praise of the Dark Girls that thrilled the Spelman audience. It was a response so thundering that I was afraid and

Askia was too. Afraid of what? Joy! Appreciation for understanding the Queen of the Universe, Mother of Civilization? We just don't know the power of words. In the beginning was the word and the word was truth and beauty.

 Marvin X and his top student, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga of Oakland's Lower Bottom Playaz.  Dr. Ayodele directed and performed Marvin's In the Name of Love, Laney College Theatre, 1981; she did the same for his One Day in the Life, Malonga Arts Theatre, 1996--2002, longest running Black  play in the Bay! She has produced almost the entire August Wilson cycle of plays with her Lower Bottom Playaz down in deep West Oakland. Ayo is probably the greatest black producer, director, actress in the Bay or perhaps in the USA, after all she is a student of Marvin X, who is a student of Amiri Baraka, Sun Ra and Elijah Muhammad/Malcolm X!

 Marvin X and great poet Paradise, author of the classic They Love Everything About you but You! Paradise is in the BAM tradition of beauty and truth telling!

Sonia is my queen, comrade in the arts, revolutionary sister, comrade, griot, shaman lady, etc. May her magic flow on and on, on and on, Shaman lady supreme. Who can tell us of love, especially in all the wrong places? See my poem You don't Know Me, but I love Sonia's great poetic classic Wounded in the House of a Friend. It is a dramatic poem in dialogue, when she wouldn't read the female part at a party in Baraka's house, I read the male and female parts. But check this out: Sonia went over to the piano in the Baraka's house and began to accompany me. I thought she was Ornette Coleman or somebody. I had no idea she had knowledge of the piano. Don't underestimate your people, not even the lowest of the low, for you don't know that person is a god!-- mx

Emory is a Gemini like myself. He's got to be one of the coolest persons in the world, to go through what he did with the personalities he had to deal with--me too! Don't make me list them!

Ginny Lim is in the BAM tradition, she heard the word and picked up the torch in the BAM and Bandung Tradition. Ginny is down fada down! BAM and the United Front of all oppressed peoples!

 Queen of the BAM, Sonia Sanchez

 Marvin X with the great bassist Henry Grimes, who also plays violin
Check him and Marvin X on the video at the NYU tribute to Jayne Cortez and Amiri Baraka

 Henry Grimes

 Ancestor Amiri Baraka and Henry Grimes

 Marvin X honored in Harlem NY at the beautiful home of Rashidah Ishmaili, 20014. Marvin was in New York to honor poets Jayne Cortez and Amiri Baraka at New York University, an event organized by Amiri Baraka, but Sister Rashidah handled the affair. Of course Amiri didn't know it would be a tribute for Jayne and himself!, and so it is! Ase!

 Black Fire, bible of the 60s BAM revolution, edited by Larry Neal and Amiri Baraka

 AB

 What a great union of the female and male energy, Mrs. Amina Baraka and husband, Amiri

 Art by Emory, Black Panther Party Minister of Culture

 Ras Baraka, next Mayor of Newark, NJ, In she Allah! Oh, that's da Prez!

Marvin X relates to Syria in a personal way, his son Abdul El Muhajir was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Damascus, Syria. He told his father (before he made his transition at the age of 39) of the oppression in Syria. "The secret police interrogated me every day," his son said. "Why are you swimming at the American Embassy? What are you reading about the Baa'th Party? Why are you hanging around those filthy Palestinians?" RIP, Abdul El Muhajir!

 Mr. Baraka, why doesn't Marvin X write about you? Baraka: Because he knows I will write about him!

These poets shared a 47 year friendship. I am forever lonely without AB in my hear cracking something smart to which I tried to come back with something equally smart!

 The great revolutionary poet and BAM godfather, Askia Toure.

 Sonia Sanchez, godmother of BAM

 Dr. Julia Hare, the female Malcolm X!

 Marvin X and his adopted aunt, Dr. Julia Hare. Marvin is agent for the Drs. Julia and Nathan Hare archives. If you are interested in acquiring their archives, contact Marvin X. Independently appraised price: $300, 000.00. If you are a well-heeled individual, why not purchase these archives and donate them to a worthy academic institution?

Marvin X as political poet! At his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland--the most dangerous classroom in the world! His classroom was the site of the Oscar Grant Rebellion and Occupy Oakland. His classroom continued to meet in the midst of mayhem and murder!

Brother Marvin,
Thank you for recalling Amiri's call for unifying the main 27 Afro American cities in the country with the Black Arts Movement, but also networking them with his repeated call for : 1) organization (collectives/ coalitions/ united fronts); 2) program (ideology/ value system); and 3) independent institutions; and reminder of Malcolm's basic demands for self-respect/ self-defense/ self-determination for Black & other Third World/ indigenous peoples. EastSide Arts Alliance supports you in all your efforts to build this network/ cultural circuit.
-g-

Marvin, what would we do without your energy, vision, and powerful personality that makes things happen. You always make a difference. Love you.--Kim McMillan