Call for Papers 2017 National Black Writers Conference Biennial Symposium

Clarence V. Reynolds Announcement
Location
New York, United States
Subject Fields
Literature, African American History / Studies, Black History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies

Call for Papers

 

2017 National Black Writers Conference Biennial Symposium

“Our Miss Brooks: A Centennial Celebration”

 

 

The year 2017 marks the centennial of the birth of Gwendolyn Brooks, who through her powerful, passionate, social and politically conscious poetry and prose, used a range of modern literary aesthetics to provide a window into the life of Blacks in 20th century urban America. Brooks was the first Black author to win the Pulitzer Prize and was poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. The author of the poetry collections Annie Allen and The Bean Eaters, and the novel Maud Martha, Gwendolyn Brooks claims an irrefutable place in our literary canon. In partnership with “Our Miss Brooks 100,” the Center for Black Literature is proud to take part in the yearlong “Our Miss Brooks: A Centennial Celebration.”

For the 2017 NBWC Biennial Symposium, the Center for Black Literature invites poets, writers, independent researchers, interested faculty and students to submit proposals that examine the life of Gwendolyn Brooks and the themes in her works. Proposals may include but are not limited to the following subjects:

● Brooks was a socially conscious African-American poet whose most recognized works in the 1950s and 1960s were created from the challenging times Blacks faced in America and also represented a portrait of the people that surrounded her. More than 65 year later, with the establishment of the Black Lives Matter movement, in what ways does Brooks’s poems, prose, and community activism resonate in today’s society

            ● In his book Honoring Genius, Gwendolyn Brooks: The Narrative of Craft, Art, Kindness and Justice, Haki R. Madhubuti writes: “Ms. Brooks was a woman who could not live without her art, but who had never put her art above or before the people she wrote about.” With this reflection in mind, examine the ways in which Brooks’s prose and poetry reflect the human experience as well as the experiences of Blacks in America.

 

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is December 16, 2016. Please include the following: your name, title of your proposed talk, institutional affiliation, short academic bio of no more than 50 words, a proposal of 300–500 words, and a list of references. Please be sure to include your name and contact information on the title page. Notification of acceptance will be sent to presenters by February 10, 2017. Please submit to: writers@mec.cuny.edu, with “2017 NBWC Our Miss Brooks Call for Papers” in the subject line.

 

For more information about the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, and its programs, call 718-804-8883, email: writers@mec.cuny.edu, or visit www.centerforblackliterature.org. Like us:  Center for Black Literature; Follow us:   @Center4BlackLit

 

 

Contact Email
writers@mec.cuny.edu