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>HURSTON/WRIGHT FOUNDATION SEEKS SUBMISSIONS FOR SUMMMER WRITING WORKSHOP
>Submissions from African American Writers Needed
>Washington, DC (BlackNews.com) - The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation will accept applications for its annual Writers' Week summer workshop for Black writers through Friday, April 20th. It is the nation's only multi-genre summer writer's workshop for writers of African descent with a tuition-free component for high school students. The workshop will be held on the campus of American University in Washington, DC from July 15 to July 21, 2007. To participate, writers must submit an application along with samples of their work by April 20, 2007.
The week brings together Black writers from around the United States, as well as Black writers from the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, who create a nurturing, safe
space to discuss their work, its meaning, and unique aesthetics.
>Hurston/Wright Writers' Week is distinguished by the diversity of the writers it attracts: published, unpublished, college students, high school students, seniors, retirees, professionals-all chosen to participate on the strength of their writing.
All courses are taughtby published authors and include workshops on self-publishing, nonfiction, creative writing, writing from the spirit, building a novel and poetry. Workshop leaders include:
>Kwame Alexander is the founder of two publishing companies, BlackWords Press and Word of Mouth Books. As a poet and producer, he has delivered awe-inspiring keynote speeches and publishing workshops throughout the country and abroad. Alexander has written for television, and authored nine books including Do The Write Thing: 7 Steps to Publishing Success, Dancing Naked on the Floor: poems and essays, Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur, and Crush: Love Poems, a collection of young adult love poems. Alexander also serves as producer of the annual Washington Post Capital BookFest, and is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Hurston/Wright Foundation. He has been recognized as one of the Top Ten Black Publishers by Black Issues Book Review.
>Patrice Gaines isthe author of nonfiction books, the autobiography Laughing in theDark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color, A Journey From Prison to Power and the inspirational Moments of Grace: Meeting the Challenge to Change. She is an award winning journalist with 27 years experience and has worked as a reporter for the Washington Post for 16 years.
>A. Van Jordan isthe author of Rise, which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award and was selected for the Book of the Month Club from the Academy of American Poets. His second book, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, was awarded an Anisfield-Wolf Award and listed as one of the Best Books of2005 by The London Times. He is a graduate of the Cave Canem Workshop.
>Quantum Lyrics will be published in July 2007 by W.W.Norton & Co. He teaches at the University of Texas at Austin, and serves on faculty at The Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
>Mat Johnson isthe author of The Great Negro Plot, Hunting in Harlem, and Drop. He has written for a variety of publications, including a stint as a columnist for Time Out-NY. In 2004, he won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Fiction. Johnson received his Master in Fine Arts from Columbia University and currently teaches at Bard College.
>Chris Abani is anAssociate Professor at the University of California, Riverside and the recipient of the PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, the Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Hemingway Book Prize. He is the author of The Virgin of Flames, GraceLand, Masters of Board, Becoming Hands Washing Water, and Song For Night.
>Patricia Elam is author of the novel Breathing. She is also a freelance writer and commentator. Her fiction and nonfiction writings have been published in The Washington Post, Essence, Emerge, Newsday, and in such anthologies as Father's Songs and New Stories from the South. A winner of the O. Henry Award, Patricia Elam has been a commentator for National Public Radio, NBC News, CNN, and the BBC.
>Robin Marcus teaches fiction at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and has led many fiction workshops. She has read from her work at many venues including the National Museum of Women and the Arts and Nuyorican poets café. Marcus also teaches writing and the composition at Howard University.
>Participants may choosefrom a base tuition of $675 or for advanced writers, the tuition is $825. Room and board are available at an additional cost. Qualifying high school students will receive a full scholarship including room and board.
Hurston/Wright Writers'Week is made possible with the support of American University, Atria Books, Citibank, Broadway/Doubleday Group, Penguin Group (USA), Verizon Foundation, The Washington Post, and the generous support of individual donors.
>For more information about the Hurston/Wright Foundation and its annual Writer's Week or to download an application, visit
www.hurstonwright.orgor call 301-683-2134.
About the Hurston/Wright Foundation
The Hurston/Wright Foundation is a nonprofit resource center for readers, writers and supporters of Black literature. The mission of this literary organization is to discover, develop and honor Black writers for the purpose of preserving the legacy and ensuring the future of Black writers and the literature they create. Since its inception in 1990, the Hurston/Wright Foundation has grown from serving only one segment of the community of Black writers, college writers of African descent, to providing culturally sensitive services and guidance for Black writers and their readers at every stage of their development.
Stanice Anderson
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