1:00 - 3:00
United States
Dr. Kim McMillon moderates a reading and public discussion with poets and writers from Black Fire—This Time, Volume 1, a powerful new anthology that explores the history and legacy of the Black Arts Movement. While Black Fire—This Time features the works of over 100 poets and writers, the majority of this program’s readers hail from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dr. Kim McMillon, University of California, Merced, is a producer, playwright and contributor to Some Other Blues: New Perspectives on Amiri Baraka and Black Power Encyclopedia (1965-1975). She is editor of Black Fire—This Time (Willow Books).
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Black Fire: This Time — Website
Karla Brundage is a Bay Area poet, activist, educator and the founder of West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange (WO2WA).
devorah major is San Francisco’s third Poet Laureate and the author of califia’s daughter.
Lakiba Pittman is a poet and certified Compassion Ambassador throughout the Bay Area.
Stajaabu is a writer, producer, poet health advocate, artist, Air Force veteran and UC Davis retiree and is the mother of the mother/daughter team “Straight Out Scribes.”
Dr. V.S. Chochezi, who recently earned a doctorate in Education from Drexel University in Sacramento, is a writer, poet, editor, photojournalist, publications specialist and college professor. V.S. is the daughter of the mother/daughter team “Straight Out Scribes.”
Elijah Pringle is a Philadelphia poet, musician, composer, actor and activist; Eileen Cassinetto, who co-authored a poem with Elijah Pringle, is the Poet Laureate of San Mateo County.
Thurman Watts is a founding member of the Nairobi Poets and his work has appeared in the San Francisco Examiner.
Ishmael Reed is the winner of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship and wrote the Foreword to Black Fire—This Time.
Dr. Margo Natalie Crawford is Professor of English and Director of the Center for Africana Studies at Penn State. Dr. Crawford penned the Introduction to Black Fire—This Time.
Raymond Nat Turner, “The Town Crier,” is the Artistic Director of the JazzPoetry Ensemble UpSurge NYC and Poet-in-Residence at Black Agenda Report.
Venus Jones is an author, performance poet, TEDx speaker and mentor whose one-woman show, Poetic Soldier, was dubbed “Most Inspiring Solo Performance” at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival.
Elaine Brown aka Poet E Spoken is a freestyle artist, History teacher and co-host of VENT, an online literary empathy circle, and My Word Open Mic.