Harlem Book Fair: Author Talks

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harlembookfair2015 | AUTHOR TALKS:



QBR/THE BLACK BOOK REVIEW/HARLEM BOOK FAIR AUTHOR TALKS 
SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2015
In Partnership with Columbia University School of the Arts
and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
HARLEM HOSPITAL'S MURAL PAVILION
506 Lenox Avenue (Malcolm X Boulevard) at 136th Street


PRESERVING OUR STORIES: MEMOIR BEYOND REMEMBRANCE
1:00pm -2:30pm







Introduction of Panelists: TBD

Moderator: Hettie Jones, How I became Hettie Jones
PANELISTS: Margo Jefferson, Negroland: A Memoir; Benilde Little, Welcome to My Breakdown: A Memoir

What is the contemporary significance of memoir writing for African Americans? Unlike the narratives of the enslaved so crucial to abolition efforts of the 19th century, memoirs of this new century offer writers the opportunity to present largely unmediated records of their lives, which are not only personal memories but provide an eye into historical periods and level commentary on pressing political issues in an intimate voice. Zora Neale Hurston’s pointed statement in her account of her life,Dust Tracks on a Road, that “[l]ike the dead-seeming, cold rocks, I have memories within that came out of the material that went to make me. Time and place have had their say,” reminds the reader of the necessity and importance of this genre as a repository for the heroic act of human living.  

LITERATURE AND DIASPORA
2:45pm - 4:00pm








Introduction of Moderator: TBD

Moderator: Cheryl Sterling, Professor at CUNY

Panelists: Ifeona Fulani, Ten Days in Jamaica; Gillian Royes, The Rhythm of the August Rain; Tiphanie Yanique, Land of Love and Drowning; Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, Daughters of the Stone

 Diasporic literature is not simply about exile and return or dislocation and rupture. However, space, as lived reality, remains a recurring theme in the novels, poems, and short stories that form this growing body of work. This literature almost always highlights a specific relationship to a place or culture, but is universal in approach and appeal. But like the Martinican poet and political figure, Aimé Césaire, these writers “have a different idea of the universal. It is of a universal rich with all that is particular, rich with all the particulars there are, the deepening of each particular, the coexistence of them all.”


TELLING TRUTH THROUGH FICTION
4:15pm - 5:30pm








Introduction of Moderator: TBD

Louise Meriwether, Daddy Was a Number Runner; Bridgett M. Davis, Into the Go-Slow

What inspires us to write our own stories? What stories inspire us? In her iconic novel, Louise Meriwether chronicles the post-Renaissance, Depression-era Harlem of her childhood, as seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl. This inspired a young Bridgett M. Davis to write Into the Go-Slow, the fictionalized but immensely personal account of journeying to Nigeria to chase her sister’s ghost. Join these two authors as they discuss what it’s like to be black women writers, putting your family on the page, and working through history as a way to shed light on the present.

A QBR/C-SPAN BOOK TV AUTHOR PANEL
SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE
Langston Hughes Auditorium
515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037

WEALTH AND FINANCE IN POST-CIVIL RIGHTS AMERICA
11:00am - 12:30pm







Introduction of Moderator: TBD

Moderator: Damon Phillips, Shaping Jazz: Cities, Labels, and the Global Emergence
of an Art Form

Panelists: Dalton Conley, Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth, and Social Policy in America; Williams Tabb, The Restructuring of Capitalism in Our Time; Vesla Weaver, Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences of American Crime Control

The experience of black people in the US to the financial marketplace can best be characterized as one of ongoing dispossession. The financial literacy, economic stability, and staggering disparity in the accumulation of wealth in this community are rooted in a chattel system at the core of American capitalism. In the aftermath of an intensely qualified emancipation and the financial practices of a Jim Crow mechanism that ensured an unbroken legacy of white wealth across generations, a range of forces has operated to stymie black success. This panel seeks to shift the narrative about black economic solvency and income inequality in post-civil rights America away from financial correctives and prescriptions to check or inspire behavior, to one that is historically grounded, deeply empirical, and morally directed.  

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: MORE ON THE WHITE GAZE
1:00pm – 2:00pm







Introduction of Conversant: TBD

IN CONVERSATION:  Sherrilyn Ifill, On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Centurywith Pamela Newkirk, Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of OTA BENGA

In 1904, a young Congolese man, an “African Pygmie,” as he was advertised, was captured in Central Africa and brought to the United States.  First, he was featured in an anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Two years later, the New York Zoological Park (now the Bronx Zoo) displayed him in its Monkey House with an orangutan. Ota Benga, as he came to be known, became an international sensation, attracting thousands of New Yorkers and commanding headlines from across the nation and Europe. Join our conversation on this shocking social history that raises difficult questions about how African-descended people are precieved—viewing practices that continue to haunt us today.


FASHIONING THE SELF: THE IMAGE IN BLACK
2:15pm - 3:45pm







Introduction of Moderator: Vanesse Lloyd Sgambati

Moderator: Aimee Meredith Cox, Shapeshifters: Black Girls and the Choreography of Citizenship
Panelists: Nichelle Gainer, Vintage Black Glamour; Nell I. Painter, The History of White People;
Noilwe Rooks, Hair Raising: Beauty, Culture and African American Women

“What one does to children matters,” declares the narrator in Toni Morrison’s latest novel, God Help the Child, about a “high color” African American mother who gives birth to a child with startlingly dark skin. The Nobel Laureate’s return to subjects first broached in her debut novel, The Bluest Eye, confirms, sadly, that concerns about color and the lasting dominance of the white gaze develops early and is an inside thing that often scars the self. Join this panel of image-makers as they explore these complex issues.
           

RACE AND POLITICS IN A TIME OF CRISIS
4:00pm - 6:00pm







Introduction of Moderator: TBD

Moderator: Imani Perry, More Beautiful, And More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Equality in the
United States

Panelists: Sherrilyn Ifill, On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century;
Deborah Thomas, Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transnational Jamaica; Samuel Roberts, Infectious Fear: Politics, Disease, and the Health Effects of Segregation; Christopher Lebron, The Color of Our Shame: Race and Justice in our Time,Nell I. Painter, The History of White People

This roundtable discussion will range widely across the issues that have brought tens of thousands to the streets in response to the crisis and spectacle of highly publicized black deaths. Panelists will explore questions concerning the rule of law, the state of black politics, the philosophy of race and attempt to chart pathways to fulfilling the promise of democratic American citizenship. 

HBF 2015 Partners:

SINGLE MAN, MARRIED MAN
Countee Cullen Library Auditorium
11:00pm – 12:15pm

Moderator: Roxie Digital, Radio Personality and Producer, 103.9 FM

Panelists: FrankGateau, Dr. Jean Alerte, and Kel Spencer

Get the 411 on the different relationship dynamics and the guy’s perspective on the many burning questions asked by women.  This relationship panel with married, divorced, and single men takes a well-needed approach towards popular yet practical topics of love, dating, and romance fundamentals that commonly go overlooked and unnoticed to the detriment of many.


BEING WOMAN IN CONTEMPORARY CARIBBEAN LITERATURE
Countee Cullen Library Auditorium
12:30pm – 1:30pm








Moderator: TBD

Panelists: Denecia Green, Sex, Lies and Betrayal (Jamaica); Leslie Saint Julien, More Than Me - Lives in New York (Haiti);Tiphanie Yanique, Land of Love and Drowning, (U.S. Virgin Islands)

‘Being woman’ is a universal idea but what is it to be woman, black and Caribbean? How does this ‘trifecta’ of culture affect and inform the work of these popular writers? What ‘woman’ archetypes and ideas do they project in their work? Are they beneficial or stereotypical? Are they to be embraced or avoided? How does Caribbean writing impact our idea of blackness?


WRITING AND PUBLISHING: AN EXCLUSIVE WORKSHOP WITH ZANE
Countee Cullen Library Auditorium
2:00pm - 3:30pm

Zane is the New York Times Bestselling Author of ten titles. In addition to writing, Zane is the publisher of Strebor Books International, an imprint of ATRIA/Simon and Schuster. Under Strebor, Zane is responsible for acquiring dozens of titles per year and currently has nearly fifty authors under her imprint. Now, after repeated requests, she has published a 'how-to' book on writing and publishing, A Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Publishing. Join this writing and publishing powerhouse for everything you need to know about publishing your book or building your publishing business. Bring your notepad and your questions. Not to be missed  Books will be sold at the Barnes & Noble tent for signature


WRITING HARD TIME: INFAMOUS BOOKS, INFAMOUS AUTHORS
Countee Cullen Library Auditorium
4:00pm – 5:15 pm

Introduction of Moderator: TBD

Moderator: Wes Jackson, Executive Director, Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival and owner of Brooklyn Bodega.

The Harlem Book Fair will be the launch venue for the much-awaited release of Shannon Holmes' next novel, Caught Up. Mr. Holmes achieved success with his first novel, B-more Careful, that sold a over a half-million copies, making him instant 'platinum' within his genre. Shannon parlayed that success to become the first ‘Urban/Street fiction’ author to have his novel printed in hardcover by a major publishing house. Prodigy, with fellow rapper Havoc, make up the hit rap duo Mobb Deep. Propelled to awareness by fellow rapper Nas, as well as with the aid of a successful single, Shook Ones Pt. 2, Mobb Deep released The Infamous. Prodigy's current title is H.N.I.C. K'wan Foye, author of recently released Black Lotus, has been featured in Vibe, Pages, King, The Library Journal, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Press, and Time Magazine. K’wan was also the recipient of the 2012 and 2013 Street Lit Book Award Medals (SLBAM) in adult fiction for Eviction Notice and Animal. His credits also include featured commentary in the award winning documentary Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp (produced by Ice-T) as well as a reoccurring guest role on TV-One’s Celebrity Crime Files.


FIRST 2000 DAYS CAMPAIGN: THE JOURNEY TO LITERACY FOR OUR YOUNGEST LEARNERS
Countee Cullen Library • Conference Room A
12:00pm - 1:30pm

Presenters: Dr. Sayidah Peprah, Psychologist; Ms. Daseta Gray, Founder, Sabree Education Services/Certified Infant Toddler Specialist; Melissa Passerelli, Director of Developmental Screening Project Docs for Tots

Join us as we discuss how social- emotional development, mental health and investing in our youngest learners help chart the path to literacy. They are connected and what we can do to get our youngest learners on the path to literacy. Many believe that children begin the literacy journey when they start kindergarten. The truth is the literacy journey begins when the infant comes home and you begin developing language skills. Without language and vocabulary there is no literacy. The investment starts now.


SLUT: HOW TO BE A TEENAGE PLAYWRIGHT – TURNING HIGH SCHOOL INTO DRAMA
Countee Cullen Library • Conference Room A
2:00pm – 3:15pm

Remember the slut at your school? Whether used as a slur or reclaimed as an expression of sexy confidence, this word has been used as an acceptable excuse for rape, bullying, and the sexual double standard. In the spirit of The Vagina Monologues, this riveting, critically acclaimed play, written in collaboration with New York City high school students, sheds light on enduring feminist issues. Join the high school contributors of SLUT: The Play, along with playwright and theater teacher Katie Cappiello, as they read from the play and discuss the process of making the personal public, how writing and art can change culture, and what it’s like to stand against slut-shaming in their own schools.


WRITOPIA LABS WORKSHOPS FOR YOUNG WRITERS
Conference Room B
12:00pm – 5:00pm

Writopia offers safe, student-centered writing workshop led by positive, passionate authors or playwrights. They believe that the key to helping our children write more effectively is to give them the opportunity to discover or reconnect to their writing voice, to their personal vision, and to their understanding of the world. That means giving them the freedom to write about what interests them, and then helping them begin, and see through to completion, a well-constructed piece of writing that reflects their vision and personal wisdom.
COUNTEE CULLEN LIBRARY
104 West 136th Street, New York, NY 10030


RACE FILMS: 50 YEARS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CINEMA
1:15pm – 2:30pm

Presenter: Jeremy Geltzer, Author

As Hollywood developed, African American talents struggled to be recognized on screen and behind the lens. In addition to the challenge of breaking through, audiences and actors had the additional burden of watching as decades of negative stereotypes unspooled on theater screens and in popular culture. Between 1915 and 1950 the African American producers, directors, and stars of race films dared to define their own images on screen. Fighting the stereotypes of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Birth of a Nation, William Foster, George & Noble Johnson, and Oscar Micheaux made movies to uplift the African American experience. Join author Jeremy Geltzer in this compelling and informative history.


SILENCING BLACK WRITERS IN THE USA
Presented by the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981)
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Introduction: Yusef Salaam
Moderator: Herb Boyd, The Gentle Giant: The Autobiography of Yusef Lateef

Panelists:  J. e Franklin, Black Girl; Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie, Karma’s Footsteps; Askia Toure, African Affirmations: Songs for Patriots: New Poems, 1994 to 2004; Cathie Wright-Lewis, Passion's Pride: Return to the Dawning

Three generations of award-winning writers share a fact-laden historical overview of four centuries of censorship of Black writers.  Addressing both covert and overt activities, including burning of Black presses and lynching of publishers; federal government sanctions; and the banning of literature in public and school libraries, the panelists will explore how the African American literary community has responded, offering solutions such as the Independent Publishing Movement, supporting writing organizations that protect the rights of writers, and creating independent magazines. A New York State proclamation honoring Askia Toure will also be presented during this session.
SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE
American Negro Theater (ANT)
515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037





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