Join esteemed scholars, acclaimed authors and renowned poets

for a provocative and entertaining conversation about

the life, writings and enduring influence of one of

the most iconic writers in American literary history

 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2025

9am-5:30 pm

125 Michigan Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20017

(on the campus of Trinity Washington University)

 

 

“A pioneering and gifted poet, a seminal scholar, a brilliant critic, a master teacher and a mentor to hundreds, Sterling Allen Brown is generally acknowledged as the dean of African American literature,”  Stephen E. Henderson, founding director Institute for the Arts and Humanities,

Howard University

 

“Brown’s poetry is also a testament to the continuity of Black expression. Exploring both the folk and literary traditions, he recognizes the shared concerns, the values, the ways of thinking and feeling about the world that remain bridges  from one generation to the next.”  Joanne V. Gabbin,Ph.D. author “Sterling A. Brown: Building the Black Aesthetic Tradition”

 

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DON’T MISS IT!

 IT’S FREE! REGISTER NOW!

estherproductionsinc.com/events

 

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Join us for The Poetry & Folklore of Sterling A. Brown—a tribute to the man, and the culture he preserved!

 

 THE PROGRAM 

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​9:00am-Welcome: How We Came to this Place (an introduction) jonetta rose barras, president Esther Productions Inc. project visionary and co-curator The Poetry & Folklore of Sterling A. Brown

 

9:15 Special Greetings: A. Scott Bolden, Esq: TV Legal Analyst and Contributor of NewsNation. Supporter Esther Productions Inc. since 2005.

 

9:20 am Special Greetings: Lisa Conathan, Head of Williams Special Collections and Sponsor The Poetry & Folklore of Sterling A. Brown

 

9:30 am Calling in Creative Spirits: Kenneth Carroll, III  Esther Productions Inc. Sterling A. Brown Teaching Artist in Residence and 2017 DC Youth Poet Laureate

 

9:40 am Introduction of speakers: E. Ethelbert Miller, co-curator The Poetry & Folklore of Sterling A. Brown, literary activist and author of several collections of poetry.

 

9:40 am Laura Dennis, granddaughter, Sterling A. Brown

 

10:00 am InSight #1: James Early, cultural historian

 

10:30am- Panel: The Negro/Black Caravan: Defining and Critiquing African American Culture (A look at Sterling Brown as Creative and Critic) Moderator: Teri Ellen Cross Davis  Panelists: Joshua Myers, PhD, Cornelius Eady & Keith Leonard

         

11:45am Lunch: (on your own) 

 

12:15pm InSight #2: A Conversation Between Joanne V. Gabbin, Ph. D. and  E. Ethelbert Miller

 

1:00pm Panel: Southern Road: The Federal Writers Project & the Extraordinary Discovery of Ordinary Voices (A look at Sterling A. Brown’s fight to ensure the inclusion of the voices and stories of ordinary people in African American and American literature) Moderator:  Niani Kilkenny Panelists:  Maurice Jackson Ph.D. & Mark Sanders Ph.D. 

         

2:30pm InSight #3: Reflections on Sterling Brown- Brian Gilmore

 

3:00pm Panel:  Adelaide, Daisy and The Role of Women and Music in Sterling Brown’s Life and Literature Moderator: Marita Golden  Panelists: Amy Horowitz & Kenneth Carroll, Jr.

 

 4:15pm Panel:  Shaping the Future from The Mecca (Sterling A. Brown as Intellectual Guide and Sculptor of a New Generation of Writers)  Moderator: Dana Williams, Ph.D. Panelists: Tricia Elam Walker & Marcia Davis 

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5:30pm Closing: jonetta rose barras and E. Ethelbert Miller

 

 

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NEXT—SEPT. 20

 IN THE TRADITION: Study, Replication, Creation (Special series of

workshops for youth designed to introduce Sterling A. Brown’s poetry and folklore as part of African American oral tradition while also encouraging them to create their own folkloric writings.) Led by Kenneth Carroll, III, Sterling A. Brown Teaching Artist In Residence 2025 at Esther Productions Inc. September 20 & 27 from 10am-2pm at Cleveland Park Library--3310 Connecticut Ave. NW, DC 20008. The youth program culminates with a special Poetry Showcase, October 11 from 1pm-3pm also at the Cleveland Park Library.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Seating is limited.

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SYMPOSIUM PRESENTERS:

A. Scott Bolden, Esq, is the managing partner at the DC Office of Reed Smith, one of the world’s top international law firms; he hands many of their high profile cases. Bolden has been seen or read on NewsNation, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, Fox and TV-One. His legal and political analyses equip audiences to fight for equal justice under the law and emboldens them to make a difference for all Americans. He has won numerous awards through his stellar 34-year career such as Equal Justice Award (National Bar Association - 2020), Rainmaker Award (Minority Corporate Counsel Association - 2018), Attorney of the Year Good Scout Award (Boy Scouts of America National Capital Area Council - 2018) and Savoy’s 100 Best Diverse Lawyers in America (2018). He is a champion for higher education, serving at both of his alma maters, including as the current Secretary to the Morehouse College Board of Trustees and a distinguished member of the Board of Visitors at Howard University School of Law. Bolden has also been a steadfast support of Esther Productions Inc., providing financial support since its first event in 2005.​​​​

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Lisa Conathan, MLS, PhD, is Head of Special Collections at Williams College, overseeing the Chapin Library of Rare Books and the College Archives. As an academic librarian, she brings historical documentation to life in College culture and curriculum and engages with institutional accountability and campus history. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MLS with a concentration in Archives from the University of Maryland.

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​SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: Laura Dennis grew up surrounded by literary legacy as Sterling A. Brown's youngest granddaughter. Raised in Washington, DC, she and her three sisters enjoyed cherished weekends with their grandfather Sterling, grandmother Daisy, and their great-aunts. The family bonds grew even stronger when Laura later lived with Sterling in his final years. As a keeper of family memories, she frequently shares personal insights about the renowned poet and scholar at speaking engagements, offering intimate glimpses into the Brown family's life and traditions.

 

 

​​​​​​James Counts Early is the former Director of Cultural Heritage Policy at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution, where from 1984-2015 he served in many positions, including  Assistant Provost for Educational and Cultural Programs, Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service,  Director of Cultural Studies and Communications Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Studies, and Interim Director of the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum. He holds a BA in Spanish from Morehouse College; at Howard University he entered the doctoral in History Studies, focusing on Latin American and Caribbean History. Early also served as humanist administrator at the National Endowment for the Humanities; producer, writer, and host of "Ten Minutes Left," a five-year weekly program at WHUR FM radio; and a research associate for programs and documentation at the Howard University Institute for the Arts and Humanities. Early currently provides consulting services around Cultural Democracy and Statecraft Heritage Policies in Capitalist and Socialist nations and the African Diaspora.

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Joanne Veal Gabbin, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita of English at James Madison University and founder of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, the first academic center devoted to Black poetry. She is the author of Sterling A. Brown: Building the Black Aesthetic Tradition, editor of Furious Flower: African American Poetry from the Black Arts Movement to the Present, The Furious Flowering of African American Poetry and executive producer of the Furious Flower video and DVD series. She also co-edited Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry with Lauren K. Alleyne. She is the founder and organizer of the Wintergreen Women Writers Collective and author of the children’s book I Bet She Called Me Sugar Plum. A dedicated teacher and scholar, Dr. Gabbin has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and scholarship: the College Language Association Creative Scholarship Award for her book on Sterling A. Brown (1986) and the Outstanding Faculty Award, Virginia State Council of Higher Education. Dr. Gabbin was inducted into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent. In 2021 James Madison University honored her and her husband with the naming of a campus building, the Joanne V. and Alexander Gabbin Hall.

 

 

E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist and author of two memoirs and several poetry collections including his baseball trilogy: If God Invented Baseball, When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery and How I Found Love Behind the Catcher’s Mask published by City Point Press. He hosts the WPFW morning radio show On the Margin with E. Ethelbert Miller and hosts and produces The Scholars on UDC-TV which received a 2020 Telly Award. He is Associate Editor and a columnist for The American Book Review. He was given a 2020 congressional award from Congressman Jamie Raskin in recognition of his literary activism, awarded the 2022 Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and named a 2023 Grammy Nominee Finalist for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.  On March 2, 2024, Miller received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to African American Literature and DC’s literary community from Esther Productions Inc. On September 18, 2024, he  received the Furious Flower Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Brian Gilmore is the author of the upcoming book "No More Worlds To Conquer: The Black Poet in Washington DC Since Paul Laurence Dunbar," which is a cultural history of the Black poetry scene in DC since Paul Laurence Dunbar came to the city to live and write in 1898. The book includes a section on Sterling A. Brown and his relationship with other poets. Gilmore has also written four books of poetry and numerous essays.  He has won numerous awards, including the 2020 Michigan Notable Book Award for his book come see about me marvin. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Law and Society Program at the University of Maryland - College Park. 

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jonetta rose barras is co-curator of The Poetry & Folklore of Sterling Brown. In 2024, she curated African Americans and Children's Literature: A Historical Examination of the Role of DC Writers in Building Community and Canon from 1970 Through The Present. She is the founding president and chief executive officer of Esther Productions Inc. Barras is a best-selling author and award-winning poet, essayist and journalist, who many consider a Washington, DC political and cultural institution. She is the author or editor of several books, including Discovering Me…Without You: Teen Girls Speak About Father Absence (Esther Productions Inc.  Books 2020); Bridges: Reuniting Daughters and Daddies (Bancroft Press 2005), Black Board bestseller Whatever Happened to Daddy's Little Girl: The Impact of Fatherlessness on Black Women (Ballantine 2000 hardcover, 2001 paperback), The Last of the Black Emperors: The Hollow Come Back of Marion Barry in the Age of New Black Leaders  (Bancroft Press 1998), and The Corner Is No Place For Hiding (Bunny and the Crocodile Press 1996). ​Her writings also have appeared in numerous anthologies including “Amazing Graces” (Paycock Press 2012) and “It’s All Love: Black Writers on Soul Mates, Family, and Friends” (Broadway Books 2009). Barras's feature articles, essays and opinion-editorials have appeared in The DCLine.org, The Washington Post, The Washington Examiner, USA Today, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Essence magazine, the New Republic, the American Enterprise magazine, the Washingtonian, and Crisis magazine.  In 2008, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Trinity Washington University. In 2016, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Chapter Pro.

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​​​​The Negro/Black Caravan: Defining and Critiquing African American Culture Through Poetry

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​Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of a more perfect Union, 2019 winner of The Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize  and Haint, winner of the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry.  She is the 2022 recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award and the Poetry Society of America’s 2020 Robert H. Winner Memorial Prize. She has been awarded fellowships and scholarships to Cave Canem, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Ragdale, the Hermitage Artist Retreat, and more. Her work has appeared in print, online, and in many journals and anthologies including Harvard Review, PANK,  Poetry Ireland Review, The Hopkins Review and Kenyon Review.  She is the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Curator and Poetry Programs manager for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. and lives in Maryland with her husband, poet Hayes Davis and their children.

 

Joshua M. Myers, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. He is the author of Holy Ghost Key, the winner of the 2023 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Prize (Broadside Lotus Press, 2024), Of Black Study (Pluto, 2023), Cedric Robinson: The Time of the Black Radical Tradition (Polity, 2021)and We Are Worth Fighting For: A History of the Howard University Student Protest of 1989 (NYU Press, 2019), as well as the editor of A Gathering Together: Literary Journal.

 

Cornelius Eady is currently Professor of English and John C. Hodges Chair of Excellence at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. From September 2021 to December 2022, he also served as interim Director of Poets House in New York City. Eady has published several collections of poetry including Katunes (1980), Victims of the Latest Dance Craze (1985)--winner of the Academy of American Poets’ Lamont Poetry Award--The Gathering of My Name (1991)-- nominated for the Pulitzer Prize--Brutal Imagination (2001)-- a National Book Award finalist-- and Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems (2008)--nominated for an NAACP Image Award. With poet Toi Derricote, Eady founded Cave Canem, a nonprofit organization that supports emerging Black poets . In 2016, Eady and Derricote were honored with the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community on behalf of Cave Canem. In 2023, they were awarded the Pegasus Award for service in the field of Poetry by the Poetry Foundation. Eady is also a musician; he performs with literary band Rough Magic and the Cornelius Eady Trio, which recently released the album “Don't Get Dead: Pandemic Folk Songs.”

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Keith D. Leonard is the author of Fettered Genius: The African American Bardic Poet from Slavery to Civil Rights. His publications revolved around his study of political consciousness in African American poetry. His current interests include African Americans artists in Paris, jazz in African American culture, and the evolving innovations of Afrofuturism. He is currently working on a book project entitled Black Avant-Gardism that explores the role of African American writers' collectives in the artistic innovations, public profiles, and cultural impact of contemporary African American poets. He is also the editor of the

forthcoming Cambridge History of African American Poetry.

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Southern Road: The Federal Writers Project & the Extraordinary Discovery of Ordinary Voices​​

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​​​​​Niani Kilkenny is a veteran Black community, anti-racist and anti-Imperialist political activist and organizer. She was in the leadership of the Washington DC Chapter of the National Anti-Racist Organizing Committee (NAROC), co-coordinator of the Metro Washington chapter of the National Anti-Klan Network, and member of both the Southern Africa News Collective (SANC), and the Southern Africa Support Project (SASP). She was a charter member of In Process...women's vocal music workshop of Sweet Honey in the Rock. A graduate of the Howard University School of Business and Public Administration, Kilkenny has been Director of the Program in African American Culture [PAAC] at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American  History [1992 – 2003] and coordinator of that program under the direction of its founder, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon [1982 – 1992]. She was also public affairs director of WHUR-FM, Howard University Radio [1974-1981]. Ms. Kilkenny, a third generation Washingtonian, lives in DC’s Shaw neighborhood.

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Mark A. Sanders, Ph.D. is a Professor of English and Africana Studies at the University of Notre Dame, specializing in nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first-century African American and Afro-Latin American literature and culture. His notable works include

Afro-Modernist Aesthetics and the Poetry of Sterling A. Brown; he edited volumes of Brown’s prose, A Son’s Return and A Negro Looks at the South (co-edited with Edgar Tidwell). Sanders has also translated and edited A Black Soldier’s Story: The Narrative of Ricardo Batrell and the Cuban War of Independence and co-edited (with Nohora Arrieta Fernández) Semantics of the World: Selected Poems of Rómulo Bustos Aguirre. He teaches courses on African American literature and Afro-Latin American culture, focusing on racial identity, citizenship, and freedom. Currently, he is co-editing (again with Nohora Arrieta Fernández) the poetry of Afro-Colombian poet Pedro Blas Julio Romero and translating novels by Afro-Ecuadorian novelist Luz Argentina Chiriboga for his series Black Latin American Writers in Translation (Duke University Press). 

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Maurice Jackson, Ph.D. teaches in the history department at Georgetown University in Washington, DC  and is an Affiliated Professor in the Black Studies and music departments.  He is the author of Let This Voice Be Heard: Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism. With Blair Ruble, he co-edited DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC  (2018). He is also co-editor with Jackie Bacon of African Americans and the Haitian Revolution and co-editor with Susan Kozel of Quakers and their Allies in the Abolitionist Cause, 1754-1808.  Jackson wrote the liner notes to two jazz CDs by Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, "Steal Away: Spirituals, Folks Songs and Hymns" and "Come Sunday. " A 2009 inductee into the Washington, D.C. Hall of Fame, he was appointed by the mayor and the Council of the District of Columbia as the first chair of the DC Commission on African American Affairs (2013-2016).He was a member of Georgetown University Slavery Working Group that made recommendations about how the university should atone for its slave past. His book, Rhythms of Resistance and Resilience: How Black Washingtonians Used Music and

Sports in the Fight for Equality was released by Georgetown University Press in February 2025. Halfway to Freedom: The Struggles and Strivings of African American in Washington, DC is slated for publication by Duke University Press.

 

​Adelaide, Daisy and The Role of Women and Music in Sterling Brown’s Life and Literature​​

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​​Moderator: Marita Golden is an award-winning author of over twenty works of fiction and nonfiction. Her many books include the novels The Wide Circumference of Love, After and the memoirs Migrations of the Heart, Saving Our Sons and Don’t Play in the Sun One Woman’s Journey Through the Color Complex.  Her most recent book is How To Become A Black Writer Creating and Honoring Black Stories That Matter. She is the recipient of many awards including the Writers for Writers Award presented by Barnes & Noble and Poets and Writers, an award from the Authors Guild, and the Fiction Award for her novel After awarded by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.  She has lectured and read from her work internationally. Co-founder and President Emerita of the Zora Neale Hurston/ Richard Wright Foundation, Marita Golden is a veteran teacher of writing at many universities which include The University of the District of Columbia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Johns Hopkins University and George Mason University. She was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and a question on Jeopardy!  As a literary consultant, she offers writing workshops, coaching, and manuscript evaluation services.

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​​​​Kenneth Carroll, Jr is a native Washingtonian, a youth development specialist and literary activist. His writings have appeared in numerous literary journals, national magazines and newspapers. He was a 2021 nominee for the Pushcart Poetry Prize and the 2021 Blood Orange Review winner in fiction. He received the White House Humanities Award for his youth literacy work while director of DC WritersCorps. He is former director of the African American Writers Guild and has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Nuyorican Café, the Library of Congress, universities and cultural institutions around the country. His book of poetry is entitled So What: For The White Dude Who Said This Ain’t Poetry. His latest chapbook is entitled The Jim Crown Drowning of Kenneth Carroll. His plays have appeared in print and on stage, including in Ishmael Reed’s Conch, Woolly Mammoth, and the University of the District of Columbia Playwright Festival.

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Amy Horowitz straddles academia, social and racial justice arts, women’s health, LGBTQIA+, Indigenous global studies, and Palestine sovereignty movements. She believes in coalition across differences and resists racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and misogyny. From 1977 through1994, she served as artist representative for Sweet Honey In The Rock and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, with whom she co-founded Roadwork--a multi-racial women’s arts coalition. In 1978, she produced Sisterfire), an international cultural festival, and worked with dozens of women’s performance groups, across race and class, to build social justice music careers. Horowitz received a Grammy as co-producer of  "Anthology of American Folk Music" (reissue) while serving as Smithsonian Folkways Acting Director in 1997. She created and produced the “Protest Music as Responsible Citizenship” symposium in 2003, featuring Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Holly Near. Horowitz is co-founder, with poet/activist/scholar Dr. Alexis DeVeaux, of The Enclave Habitat, a care-activism cohort. She is committed to intergenerational arts activist work.  

 

​​​​  Shaping the Future from The Mecca

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​​Dana A. Williams, Ph.D. is Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of African American literature at Howard University. Her most recent publication is Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer's Legendary Editorship (Harper Collins/Amistad, 2025). 

 

 

​​Tricia Elam Walker, author of the acclaimed novel Breathing Room and two children’s books, Nana Akua Goes to School (2021 Ezra Jack Keats award, 2021 Children’s Africana Award) and Dream Street (The New York Times 25 Best Children’s Books 2021), has written for National Public Radio, The Root, Essence magazine, the Huffington Post and more. Tricia’s short stories and essays have been published widely, and her plays have been produced in a community theater. She practiced law for sixteen years prior to her writing career. Tricia is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Howard University and is working on more children’s books, plays, and a second novel. 

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Marcia Davis has been a practicing journalist for more than 40 years, starting in St. Louis, where she began working at age 16. She has worked for numerous publications, including the Washington Post for 20 years,  NPR, The Marshall Project and BET.  She bought and has lived for 25 years in the house Sterling Brown once called home in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, DC, keeping it as a place of refuge for writers. 

 

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THE STERLING A. BROWN TEACHING ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 2025, ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC.  

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KENNETH CARROLL, III (KC3) is a writer and poet born and raised in Washington, DC. In 2017, he was selected as the 2017 DC Youth Poet Laureate. In 2019, received the Thomas Lux Scholarship from Sarah Lawrence. His work has been featured in Georgia Review, Poitrinal, Lamplack, and Poetry London, among others. He is a Watering Hole, Breadloaf, and Obsidian fellow. In 2023, he was selected by Roger Reeves as a Cave Canem Starshine and Clay fellow. Carroll will lead several workshops on September 20 and September 27 focused on the poetry of Sterling A. Brown and the art of folkloric poetry.​​​​​​​​​

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STERLING STORIES!

Do you have a story to share about meeting Sterling A. Brown, being a student or being introduced to his poetry and folklore for the first time. We want to hear it. We will have a Creativists In Dialogue, a podcast founded and anchored by authors Elizabeth Bruce and Michael Oliver will be on site read to record your members. And just for sharing you'll receive a one year free subscription to their podcast. (Look for them near the Registration Table).