The National Black Writers Conference (NBWC) is a yearly event dedicated to exploring "emerging themes, trends and issues in Black literature." It is hosted by The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College

Medgar Evers College

Medgar Evers College is a senior college of The City University of New York.Medgar Evers College was officially established in 1970 through cooperation from educators and community leaders in central Brooklyn...

 of the City University of New York

City University of New York

The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...

 (CUNY). Bestselling author Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley

Walter Ellis Mosley is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private investigator and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los...

 has hailed the Conference as "the most significant gathering of Black writers in the country."

History

The National Black Writers Conference was initially conceived of in 1986 by the late author John Oliver Killens

John Oliver Killens

John Oliver Killens was a black American fiction writer whose novels of African American life received two Pulitzer Prize nominations.-Early life and education:...

. The event has attracted an array of renowned writers and scholars including Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...

, Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...

, Alice Walker

Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...

, amongst others. The Conference has explored themes such as Stereotypes and Images in Black Literature (1996) and the Impact of Black Literature on Society (2000). The event has previously been held in 1986, 1988, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Tenth National Black Writers Conference

Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...

 was the Honorary Chair for the Tenth National Black Writers Conference from March 26 to March 28, 2010. The conference was held on the Medgar Evers College campus in Brooklyn, NY. It featured discussions, youth workshops, talkshops, author readings and book signings.

The theme of the Conference, And Then We Heard the Thunder: Black Writers Reconstructing Memories and Lighting the Way was taken from the title of the late African-American author (and former Medgar Evers professor) John Oliver Killens' novel on World War II. The conference drew upon the concepts of thunder, memory and light as metaphors for both the historical representation of the literature of Black authors and the representation of new and future directions for contemporary and emerging writers.

Toni Morrison is the author of over 16 works of fiction and non-fiction. Her works are known for their critical interrogations of America's past and its relations with Blacks in American culture. The New York Times has named her most recent novel, A Mercy, one of the 10 most notable books of 2008.
Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...

, Kamau Brathwaite, and Dr. Edison O. Jackson

Edison O. Jackson

Dr. Edison O. Jackson1 is the former President of Medgar Evers College. He was appointed September 1, 1989, succeeding Dr. Leo A. Corbie , and was followed by Dr. William L. Pollard in August, 2009...

 were also honored for their impact on Black writing and culture.

Ninth National Black Writers Conference

The Ninth National Black Writers Conference, titled Black Writers: Reading and Writing to Transform Their Lives and the World, took take place on Friday, March 28, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008. The three day event featured programs ranging from a roundtable on the impact of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

 and 911 on Black literature; to a Poetry Café showcasing slam artists and co-founders of the louderARTS Project, Roger Bonair-Agard

Roger Bonair-Agard

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Roger Bonair-Agard is a poet who lives in Chicago. Bonair-Agard was a member of the 1997 Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam team and later coached the 1998 Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam team, which went on to win the National Poetry Slam Championship that year in...

 and Lynne Procope

Lynne Procope

Lynne Procope is a Trinidadian born American poet and textile designer. She is one of the founders of the louderARTS Project. In 1998, Procope made the 1998 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team. She and her fellow Nuyorican team members Alix Olson, Steve Coleman and Guy LeCharles Gonzalez would go on to win...

; student poets and an open mic session; to talkshops on publishing, poetry, fiction and non-fiction writing; on to book signings; youth workshops; author readings and more. An array of vendors will be on display at the NBWC marketplace.

Among the participating scholars, poets, and publishers were Sonia Sanchez

Sonia Sanchez

Sonia Sanchez is an African American poet most often associated with the Black Arts Movement. She has authored over a dozen books of poetry, as well as plays and children's books...

, Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...

, John Edgar Wideman

John Edgar Wideman

John Edgar Wideman is an American writer, professor at Brown University, and sits on the contributing editorial board of the literary journal Conjunctions.-Early life:...

, Jerry Ward, Brenda Marie Osbey, Asha Bandele, Thulani Davis, Quincy Troupe

Quincy Troupe

Quincy Thomas Troupe, Jr., , is a poet, editor, journalist-Early life:The son of Negro League baseball catcher Quincy Trouppe , Troupe Jr. attended Grambling State University on a baseball scholarship...

, Kevin Powell

Kevin Powell

Kevin Powell is an American political activist, poet, writer, and entrepreneur. Powell is also a nationally recognized activist who speaks against violence against girls and women, appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in March 2009...

, David Durham, Terry McMillan

Terry McMillan

Terry McMillan is an American author. Her interest in books comes from working at a library when she was sixteen. She received her BA in journalism in 1986 at University of California, Berkeley. Her work is characterized by strong female protagonists.Her first book, Mama, was published in 1987...

, Nathan McCall

Nathan McCall

Nathan McCall is an African-American author who grew up in the Cavalier Manor section of Portsmouth, Virginia.As the stepson of a Navy man, McCall also grew up in various locations, such as Morocco and Norfolk, Virginia. After serving three years in prison, he studied journalism at Norfolk State...

, Nancy Rawles, Jabari Asim

Jabari Asim

Jabari Asim is an associate professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts., and since August 2007, has been the Editor-in-Chief of The Crisis magazine, a journal of politics, ideas and culture published by the NAACP and founded by historian and social...

, Valerie Kinloch, Eisa Ulen, Thomas Bradshaw, Valerie Boyd

Valerie Boyd

Valerie Boyd is a widely published journalist, author, and cultural critic, best known for the critically acclaimed biography, Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston.-Biography:Boyd was born on December 11, 1963, in Atlanta...

, Fred Beauford, Regina Brooks, Martha Southgate, Tayari Jones

Tayari Jones

Tayari Jones is an African American author and winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction...

, Thomas Glave, William Jelani Cobb, Angela Dodson, Jaira Placide, Kassahun Checole, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and Thomas Sayers Ellis

Thomas Sayers Ellis

Thomas Sayers Ellis is a poet, photographer, and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, and a core faculty member of the Lesley University Low Residency MFA Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

.

National Black Writers Conference Bi-Annual Symposium

Held biannually, this daylong symposium brings together voices from across the literary spectrum.

2011 National Black Writers Conference Symposium

The 2011 National Black Writers Conference Bi-Annual Symposium recognized Pulitzer Prize-winning African American playwright August Wilson. The symposium was held on Saturday, March 26, 2011, 10 A.M. – 5 P.M. at Medgar Evers College - 1650 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11225. Entitled "Honoring the Work and Life of August Wilson," this conference celebrated Wilson's contribution to the American literary canon. From Jitney, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Fences to Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and Radio Golf, his work explores themes such as racism, cultural identity, family relationships, and spirituality. The symposium was dedicated to exploring his work, in particular the impact of the cultural and historical themes of his work on the Black American experience and in literature.

The day-long symposium featured dramatic readings by acclaimed actors Jeffrey Wright, star of A Free Man of Color and Top Dog/Under Dog, and Tanya Wright, author and a cast member of HBO’s "True Blood". Speakers and panelists included Woodie King Jr., founder of the New Federal Theatre; playwrights Thomas Bradshaw and Ed Bullins; Professor Dale Byam, director of the film August in April; scholars Kimberly C. Ellis, Donald Gagnon, Paul Carter Harrison, and Esmeralda Simmons.

Publications

Meditations and Ascensions: Black Writers on Writing is the bound proceedings of the Eighth National Black Writers Conference of 2006. Published by Third World Press

Third World Press

Third World Press is the largest independent black-owned press in the United States.In December 1967, Haki R. Madhubuti met with poet and activist Carolyn Rodgers and Johari Amini in the basement of a South Side apartment in Chicago to found Third World Press, an outlet for African-American...

, contributors to the tome include Marita Golden, Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley

Walter Ellis Mosley is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private investigator and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los...

, Ishmael Reed

Ishmael Reed

Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, essayist, and novelist. A prominent African-American literary figure, Reed is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture, and highlighting political and cultural oppression.Reed has been described as one of the most controversial...

, Herb Boyd, Haki R. Madhubuti

Haki R. Madhubuti

Haki R. Madhubuti is a renowned African-American author, educator, and poet. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, and served in the U.S...

, Valerie Boyd

Valerie Boyd

Valerie Boyd is a widely published journalist, author, and cultural critic, best known for the critically acclaimed biography, Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston.-Biography:Boyd was born on December 11, 1963, in Atlanta...

, Elizabeth Nunez

Elizabeth Nunez

Elizabeth Nunez is a United States novelist, and distinguished professor of English at Medgar Evers College–CUNY, in Brooklyn, New York. Nunez is also cofounder of the National Black Writers Conference. She emigrated to the United States from Trinidad, and received her Ph.D...

, Samuel R. Delany

Samuel R. Delany

Samuel Ray Delany, Jr., also known as "Chip" is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...

, Tananarive Due

Tananarive Due

Tananarive Due is an American author.-Biography:Tananarive Priscilla Due was born in Tallahassee, Florida, the oldest of three daughters of civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due and civil rights lawyer John D. Due Jr...

, Valerie Wilson Wesley

Valerie Wilson Wesley

Valerie Wilson Wesley is an African-American author of mysteries, adult-theme novels, and children's books, and a former executive editor of Essence magazine. She is the author of the Tamara Hayle mystery series...

 and many more. The book was edited by Dr. Brenda M. Greene and Fred Beauford and includes a foreword by Myrlie Evers

Myrlie Evers-Williams

SynopsisEarly LifeLife with MedgarMedgar Evers MurderLife After Medgar'NAACP/ HonorsAccomplishmentsWhoopi Goldberg played her in Ghosts of Mississippi...

, activist and widow to the slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers

Medgar Evers

Medgar Wiley Evers was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi...

. The book is set for release in early May 2008.