Freelance photographer
Marcia E. Wilson of
WideVision Photography gallivants around NYC looking
for literary events to spotlight on the "Events
Around Town" page. She may be at a reading near
you.
Terry McMillan
The inimitable Terry
McMillan held the HueMan Books audience attention as she
read from her new novel "Getting to Happy." The event
took place September 10, 2010.
publicists Linda Duggins
(l) and Gilda Squire (r) with Terry McMillan
Fort Greene Literary Festival
On Saturday, August 20, poets
Kwame Dawes, Patricia Smith, Carl Hancock Rux, Cheryl Boyce
Taylor, Gregory Pardlo, and Willie Perdomo played second
fiddle to a wonderful cast of young poets and writers who
read from their work. All are participants in youth programs
at the New York Writers Coalition.
Gregory Pardlo, Carl Hancock Rux, Patricia Smith, Kwame
Dawes, and Cheryl Boyce Taylor
Zwelethu Mthethwa
On Friday, July 16,
MoCADA in association with the Studio Museum in Harlem presented
a talk with South African photogapher Zwelethu Mthethwa,
led by curator Kimberli Gant. In his work Mthethwa presents
the humanity and creative style of day laborers, squatters,
migrant workers and others who occupy the margins of Durban
and Cape Town. His work is on view at the
Studio Museum in Harlem, through October 24, 2010.
Wednesday, July 21 - Georgia
Beauty, the eclectic downtown make up spot, hosted a book
launch party for first-time novelist Ernessa T. Carter.
Her book,
32 Candles, "is the slightly twisted, utterly romantic,
and deftly wry story of Davie Jones, who, if she doesn’t
stand in her own way, just might get the man of her dreams."
-HarperCollins.
Chimamanda Adichie
On Thursday,
June 17 2010; award-winning novelist Chimamanda Adichie
read from her book of short stories
The Things Around Your Neck.
She was then joined by novelist Tayari Jones for a conversation
about her work and process. The event took place at the
Tenement Museum in lower Manhattan. Chimamanda was interviewed
in Mosaic #17. Click
here to view all pictures. 13mb
Amiri Baraka at the
Studio Museum in Harlem
Tuesday, June 8 - poet
and activist Amiri Baraka and writer Norman Kelly discussed
Black music, various art movements, and the influence on
Black writers on music, specifically jazz. The conversation
was held at the Studio Museum in Harlem.
June Jordan's His
Own Where
June 1, 2010 - The
life of June Jordan (1936-2002) was multifaceted -poet,
novelist, essayist, playwright, educator, and activist.
To commemorate the Feminist Press's re-release of her YA
novel His Own Where -a rare work of fiction- poet
Sapphire and activist
Laura Flanders
read selections from Ms. Jordan's body of work and celebrated
the life of this seminal figure. The event was held at the
Strand Bookstore in NYC.
Sapphire reading from June Jordan's His Own Where
at the Strand Bookstore
Laura Flanders, Sapphire,
Feminist Press editor
Amy Scholder
May 13, 2010 - A nostalgia
for intimate readings in independent Black-owned bookstores
was present at Brownstone Books thanks to Brooklyn's own
literary author Bernice McFadden. She read from her latest
novel Glorious. Click on images to view.
Bernice McFadden (center,
black tank top)
with fans at Brownstone Books
Center image: Crystal Bobb-Semple,
owner of Brownstone Books with Bernice McFadden
Calabash Anthology
Reading
On April 25, 2010,
contributors to the new anthology So Much Things to Say:
100 Poets from the First Ten Years of the Calabash International
Literary Festival Edited by Colin Channer & Kwame Dawes
presented individual work at Greenlight Bookstore in Bklyn.
Click on images to view.
Colin Channer, Aracelis Girmay,
Linda Jackson, Paul Holdengraber,
Justine Henzell, Kwame Dawes, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, and Everton
Sylvester
Aracelis Girmay, Everton Sylvester, and Kwame Dawes
Justine Henzell,
Amiri Baraka, and Willie Perdomo,
On Thursday, April 1, 2010,
I had the pleasure to attend the book launch for
John Murillo's Up Jump the Boogie
last Thursday at the Bowery Poetry Club. John's a fierce
poet who's first release is receiving a lot of love in many
different cliques. It's been a while since I was in attendance
of such a packed poetry reading with so much love wafting
through the room. Matter of fact, I've never witness a poetry
spot closing its doors because it was over capacity.
Poets who honored the stage
included Thomas Sayers Ellis, Aracelis Girmay, Patrick Rosal,
Tyehimba Jess, Marcus Jackson, DeLana Dameron, Tara Betts,
and Rich Villar. Other club-kids paying tribute included
agent-supreme Marie Brown (w/her posse) Linda Jackson, Camille
Dungy, Jennifer Steele (via Chi), and Kamila Aisha Moon.
Here's the official low-down
on John: John Murillo is the current Jay C. and Ruth Halls
Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing.
A graduate of New York University's MFA program in creative
writing, he has also received fellowships from the New York
Times, Cave Canem, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown,
Massachusetts. He is a two-time Larry Neal Writers' Award
winner and the inaugural Elma P. Stuckey Visiting Emerging
Poet-in-Residence at Columbia College Chicago. His poetry
has appeared in such publications as Callaloo, Court Green,
Ploughshares, Ninth Letter, and the anthology Writing Self
and Community: African-American Poetry After the Civil Rights
Movement. Up Jump the Boogie is his first collection.
The book was published by Cypher Books --Willie Perdomo
& Lisa Simmons--
http://www.cypherbooks.org. They previously published
books by Suheir Hammad and Roger Bonair Agard.
Great night for poetry. Mosaic plans to interview him in
an upcoming issue.
.
She was then joined by novelist Tayari Jones for a conversation
about her work and process. The event took place at the
Tenement Museum in lower Manhattan. Chimamanda was interviewed
in Mosaic #17. Click
View event photos on facebook 
