135th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. (near the YMCA) 

 

10:30 AM | LIVE MUSICAL STORYTELLING

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• Eloise Greenfield's Honey I Love with poet Cyrus Aaron & bass player 

• Yuyi Morales' Dreamers with singer Aurora Rose & guitarist

• Jason Reynold's Long Walk Down with theater collective Anjun & Co.

• Mahogany L. Browne's Woke Baby with beatboxer McPherson

 

11:00 AM | YA is LIT
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• Mariame Kaba, Missing Daddy

• Tochi Onyebuchi, War Girls

• Mahogany L. Browne, Black Girl Magic

• Moderated by Glory Edim, Well Read Black Girl

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12:00 PM | RISE OF NEW AFRICAN NARRATIVES

• Patrice Nganang, Mount Pleasant

• Abdi Nor Iftin, Call Me American

• Glaydah Namukasa, The Deadly Ambition, New Daughters of Africa

• Moderated by Uzodinma Iweala, CEO of The Africa Center; Beast of No Country, Speak No Evil

 

1:00 PM | BLACK RESISTANCE AND RADICAL GRACE

• Darnell Moore, No Ashes in the Fire

• Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin, How We Fight White Supremacy

• Moderated by Frank Leon Roberts, educator and political organizer, Founder of Black Lives Matter Syllabus

 

3:00 PM | RADICAL IMAGINATION: BLACK WOMEN NARRATIVES

• Saidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments

• DaMaris Hill, PhD, A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing

• Tanisha C. Ford, Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl's Love Letter to the Power of Fashion

• Moderated by Glory Edim, Well Read Black Girl

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Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture | 1st floor

 

10:30 AM | FESTIVAL OPENING FEATURING BATALA NEW YORK

Opening features a welcome address and performance by Batalá, an all women Afro-Brazilian Samba Reggae Percussion Band.

The music of Batalá originates in Salvador in northeastern Brazil.

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11:00 AM | NEW DAUGHTERS OF AFRICA

The session marks the 25th Anniversary of the landmark anthology Daughters of Africa edited by Margaret Busby. The recent release, New Daughters of Africa highlights, vibrant voices from across the globe. 

• Rosamond S. King, “The is for the Women”, “the hotbox and the flood”

• Ifeona Fulani, “Three Islands, Two Cities: The Making of a Black/Caribbean/Woman Writer / Scholar”

• zakia henderson-brown, “unarmed”, “A Man Walks into a Bar”,

• Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, “After Edwin”

• Rashidah Ismaili, “Dancing at Midnight”

 

12:30 PM | BLACK CULINARY HISTORY

• Michael Twitty, The Cooking Gene

• Moderated by Therese Nelson, Chef and Founder and Culinary curator of Black Culinary History

 

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2:00 PM | POLITICS OF LANGUAGE IN CARIBBEAN LITERATURE

• Ishion Hutchinson, House of Common Lords

• Safiya Sinclair, Cannibal

• Ifeona Fulani, Ten Days in Jamaica

• Moderated by Garnette Cadogan, Essayist and Journalist

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4:00 PM | A CONVERSATION WITH SONIA SANCHEZ (NEW LOCATION)

In conversation with Kevin Young, Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

135th Street and Malcolm X Blvd. (near The Schomburg Center's Landmark Building) 

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11:00 AM | READING AND DEMONSTRATION WITH VASHTI HARRISON

Vashti Harrison author and illustrator; Hair Love, Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, Little Dreamers: Visionary Women around the World

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11:45 AM | READING WITH LATONYA YVETTE

LaTonya Yvette, Woman of Color

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12:00 PM  | TEEN POETRY

Hosted by Brooklyn Slam Team / Powered by Woke Baby

Poets ages 13 to 18 can sign-up to participate on the day of the event.  Space is limited. 

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1:00 PM | BATHWATER WINE: OFF THE PAGES OF WANDA COLEMAN’S POETRY

• Willie Perdomo, The Crazy Bunch

• zakia henderson-brown, What Kind of Omen Am I

• Mahogany L. Browne, Black Girl Magic

• T'ai Freedom Ford, & More Black

• Hosted by Schomburg Director Kevin Young, Brown 

 

3:00 PM | SALON 127

Hosted by I, Too, Arts - Langston Hughes House

• Shannon Nelson

• Shawn-Herbert Felton

• Smoove Babii

• Lacresha Berry

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American Negro Theatre 

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture | Lower Level

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11:00 AM | BK SLAM TEAM GROUP PIECE WORKSHOP

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12:00 PM | CHILDREN'S BOOK READING

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1:00 PM | BALDWIN AND FRIENDS COMMUNITY DISCUSSION: Price of the Ticket

Facilitated by BKLYN Combine

Members of the BKLYN Combine will lead participants in a community conversation about James Baldwin’s essay “Price of the Ticket.” The guiding question for consideration during this installment of Baldwin and Friends is How do we understand cultural and professional gatekeepers? Find the essay online and bring your voice to the conversation.

 

Little Readers Zone  

135th Street, near Adam Clayton Powell Blvd

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11:00 AM ALL DAY | WOKE BABY BOOKMARK MAKING, STICKERS & HAIKU STATION
Powered by Woke Baby 

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4:00 PM | HOW TO DRAW COMICS WITH TIM FIELDER

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Moving Images and Recorded Sound Division
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture | 3rd Floor (Landmark Building)

Visit the archives to experience literary figures captured in moving images and audio recordings.

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10:30 AM | SPOTLIGHT ON ZORA NEALE HURSTON

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1:00 PM | SPOTLIGHT ON JAMES BALDWIN

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3:30 PM | SPOTLIGHT ON LORRAINE HANSBERRY

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The Schomburg Center Literary Festival is generously sponsored in part by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation. Additional support is given by The HarperOne Group, presenting Amistad, HarperVia, and HarperCollins Espanol.  

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EXHIBITORS & VENDORS

A Reason to Smile! Books
The Africa Center
Alomo Books, LLC
Amistad
Ancient Aura Jewelry
Black Sands Entertainment
The Black Comics Collective
BLACKBERRYJUICE
Boogie Down Books
Book Bear Co.
Caribbean King
CENSUS 2021
Center for Black Literature
The Center for Fiction
Chunky And Friends
Countee Cullen
The Harlem Writers Guild
Harper Collins
HarperCollins Espanol
HarperVia
I Don't Want to Go! by Delores Connors
Mean-Tees.com
Motion Illustrationz & Pankake Images
The New Press
Penguin Young Readers
RAE Comics
rayo & honey
Revolution Book Store
S Designs Genuine Leather Bags and Cotton Scarves
Schomburg Shop
Schomburg Society
Sweet Pea Books, Inc.
W.R.E.a.C Havoc Enterprises
West Village Comics
Women in Comics Collective