SCHOMBURG
CENTER
LITERARY
FESTIVAL

Derrick Adams

Figure in the Urban Landscape 28 2018 Schomburg (3)

As the Schomburg Center and all NYPL facilities remain temporarily closed as a safety precaution to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), all of the Schomburg Center's public programs are cancelled through May. Please check www.schomburgcenter.org for updates for when programming will resume.

 

Looking Back at 2019

On Saturday, June 29, 2019 we hosted our first annual Schomburg Center Literary Festival featuring 23 programs, approximately 50 authors/moderators, and 34 vendors/exhibitors on 135th Street and inside the Schomburg Center. We set out to present a literary festival that centered stories and scholarship by writers of African descent, hailing from across the globe and our own backyard. Take a look at the 2019 Schedule to see the range of conversations inspired by Schomburg collections and our participants. It was rewarding to see intergenerational exchanges, the Schomburg showcased on the streets of Harlem, and the many forms of literature share stages named for Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. The day started with Batala New York, an Afro-Brazilian inspired, all women, percussion band and ended with our ambassador, Sonia Sanchez, whose generous spirit and commitment to justice and the written word is unparalleled. The festival was sponsored by Deustche Bank Americas Foundation. We also received support from HarperCollins.
 

Together, we provided a platform for writers who carry forward the essence of these words.  We have laid the foundation for a free literary event that commits to providing the community access to books by leading and emerging writers, featuring big ideas, scholarship, and worlds real and imagined. We look forward to doing it again this summer!  

Revist 2019 on Livestream