YG&E Awards, Konch Magazine, and Upcoming Events
Hey Y’all,
A month ago, I told y’all about the Tougaloo College Jackson Heart Study Summer SLAM Program (here). I was recently reminded of the poem, “Of Evolution, Of Science, Of Teaching,” I wrote to celebrate the program in 2010 that y’all can download here. After reading the poem, be sure to checkout the upcoming events.
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Sunday, the Young, Gifted & Empowered Awards (YG&E) is back for its 9th year to celebrate young African Americans from Mississippi and the South who are positively affecting change at local, national, and global levels. YG&E was started in 2015 to help remedy the negative stories being told about Blacks in the media. Founder, Shameka Reed, wanted to tell the untold stories of young African Americans from Mississippi and the South who are beating the odds, ignoring the noise, and positively effecting change at local, national, and global levels. Since then, YG&E has honored more than 30 individuals—young professionals who are champions in art, education, innovation, leadership, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. The honorees are between the ages of 25 - 45 and have demonstrated a noteworthy commitment to excellence and community service, including high levels of character, professionalism, and integrity. This year’s awardees include 2024 Community Organization of the Year, Mississippi M.O.V.E., comprised of three young men—Mac Epps, George Patterson, and Sabir Abdul-Haqq—who have spent their entire lives working in the sociopolitical trenches organizing, educating, and mobilizing to enable poor and black folks to obtain each aspect of needs and rights meet to fulfill their natural citizenship. Epps and Patterson joined KC 1400 Media to discuss their work and receiving 2024 COTY, which y’all can watch here. Additionally, Ashley Robinson, Jackson State University Vice President and Director of Athletics—who has a knack for making great hires and turning programs around—has been named 2024 Leader of the Year. During his short, six-year tenure, JSU Athletics has won 21 championships, posted a combined average of a 3.1 GPA for student-athletes, and increased fan base and giving. The host for this year’s ceremony will be Mississippi-based funnymen Merc B. Williams and Cocky McFly—biological brothers who have joined forces to create The Vibe Controllers, which is a podcast that shows the two of them in their natural element discussing various topics, with a little humor and lots of sibling banter! For a full list of awardees and the date and time of the event, see the calendar of events below.
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Konch Magazine—under the direction of literary icon Ishmael Reed and poet, fiction writer, and editor Tennessee Reed—has published an anthology, The Plague Edition of Konch Magazine, which features poetry, fiction, and prose published by Konch that documents the COVID 19 Pandemic. We are pleased to announce that C Liegh McInnis has a poem included alongside literary heavyweights, such as William Wells Brown, Brenda M. Greene, Yuri Kageyama, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Margaret Porter Troupe, April Sinclair, Margaret Busby, Jerry W. Ward, Geoffrey Chaucer, Glenda R. Taylor, E. Ethelbert Miller, Mona Lisa Saloy, Angela Ball, Quincy Troupe, Adrienne Kennedy, Tony Medina, Jeffery Renard Allen, and too many more to name. Parts of the edition can be read online here, and to order a complete limited edition hardcopy of the anthology, email Tennessee Reed at treedorama@gmail.com or send a check of $100 to Ishmael Reed Publishing, Box 3288 Berkeley 94703.
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Later today, Thee Jackson State Writers Alliance, which is the JSU student creative writing organization, will host the launching of the first issue of Thee 1877, which is a literary journal and arts magazine that publishes undergraduate and graduate student work. Y’all can view this issue here. To follow on Instagram, go here, and for more information about joining and submitting, contact jacksonstatewritersalliance@gmail.com. For more information about the launch, see the calendar of events below.
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Diane Williams—co-author with Richelle Putnam of A Guide to Mississippi Museums—and best-selling and award-winning novelist Angie Thomas have been announced panelist for this year’s Mississippi Book Festival. See the calendar of events for more details.
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Torch Literary Arts has two events planned for late April and early May, including celebrating Indie Bookstore Day and facilitating an event with award-winning author Crystal Wilkerson. For more details, see the calendar of events below.
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Third World Press, one of the largest black-owned publishers on the planet, has wonderful collections of poetry, fiction, and prose by award-winning and historic writers. For National Poetry Month, they are highlighting their varied collection of great poetry, such as Amira Baraka’s Wise, Why’s Y’s (here), Gwendolyn Brooks’ In Montgomery (here), Eugene B. Redmond’s Arkansippi Memwars (here), Kelly Norman Ellis’ Tougaloo Blues (here), Mzee Lasana Okpara’s Life Sentences: Freeing Black Relationships (here), and Estella Conwill Majozo’s Jiva Telling Rites (here). To view their entire collection celebrating National Poetry Month, go here. To browse their catalog, go here.
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This weekend, poet and photographer Saddi Khali will facilitate a workshop, “The Art of Visual Storytelling: An Intimate Photography Workshop,” in New Orleans. For more information, see the calendar of events below. Also, Khali has a new photography exhibit touring the country. To view dates, go here. For more information about Khali and his art, go here.
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In May, the Jackson State University Margaret Walker Alexander Center will host the 54th Gibbs-Green Commemoration to memorialize the 1970 attack on JSU by the Jackson Police Department, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, and the Mississippi National Guard, which took the lives of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, a twenty-one-year-old JSU student, and James Earl Green, a seventeen-year-old Jim Hill High School Student along with wounding eighteen others as law enforcement fired over four hundred rounds into Alexander Hall, a female Dorm. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
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UK musician, songwriter, performer, producer, and Prince scholar Lee Christian has been interviewed by Outside Left Music about his long-time career, titled “Loving American Soul in Middle England,” which can be read here.
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Jackson State University grads US Senator Laphonza Butler and US District Judge Carlton W. Reeves will serve as 2024 Spring Commencement speakers with Senator Butler delivering the undergrad address and Judge Reeves delivering the graduate address. For the full article, go here.
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The Jackson Advocate, one of the oldest African-American newspapers, has more insightful articles, including “Hank Aaron Sports Academy Brings Legacy League to Jackson (here),” “How Today’s MAGA Supporters Parallel Reconstruction’s Ending (here),” and “The Importance of Clean Energy (here).” Also, JA has a weekly podcast that y’all can access here and here, and to receive notifications of future episodes contact janews@thejacksonadvocate.com.
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Checkout the new issue of First of the Month.org, edited by the always on point Benj DeMott, which can be read here. Along with this issue, First of the Month is always publishing some of the most insightful essays, poetry, and fiction.
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Visit Jackson has created a wonderful website that provides a map for public art in Jackson, Mississippi (here). On the left side of the page, each section of the city is listed with the murals located in that part of the city. Click on the name of the locale or restaurant to see the mural. Y’all can also go here to see more of Jackson’s public art.
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Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) has posted its exhibits and events through May. For full details, see the calendar of events below.
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Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC)—a private nonprofit corporation funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide public programs in traditional liberal arts disciplines to serve nonprofit groups in Mississippi—has posted its April newsletter that y’all can read here.
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Hawks Talk, the Johnson Learning Center podcast, launched on January 15, 2024, represents a significant milestone for our program and serves as a beacon of inspiration and learning for our community. Embodying the center’s values—Hopeful, Audacious, Wise, Kindred, and Successful—each episode features their bright students in stimulating conversations with influential figures like district principals and community leaders. This podcast offers empowering insights, showcases student-driven content, and helps listeners connect with our diverse community. Available on all major podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, Hawks Talk is more than just an educational tool; it reflects the JLC’s commitment to recalibrating, restoring, and reconnecting students with their education and community. JLC encourages you to listen, share, and support Hawks Talk to make it a staple in your community’s listening habits and help celebrate this new chapter in our journey toward excellence in education and community engagement. Y’all can listen on Apple Podcasts here and on Spotify here.
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Muntu Dance Theatre hosts dance workshops on various Saturdays throughout the month. For the next workshop, see the calendar of events below.
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The Jackson State University Catherine Coleman Creative Writing Summer Workshop is currently accepting applications for this summer’s workshop. Poet, playwright, editor, and cultural critic Charlie R. Braxton will be one of the featured teachers. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
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The Millsaps McMullan Creative Writing Summer Workshop is currently accepting applications for this year’s summer’s workshop. Poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis will conduct a one-day workshop. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
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Cave Canem, one of the most important organizations in the development and nurturing of black poets, has announced its annual Cave Canem Prize, which is awarded to the best debut collection of poems submitted by a Black poet. To assist Black poets in surmounting that obstacle, Cave Canem established the Prize and created a direct route to three publishers: Graywolf Press; University of Pittsburgh Press; and University of Georgia Press. Launched in 1999 with Rita Dove’s selection of Natasha Trethewey’s Domestic Work, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Cave Canem Prize and a historic moment for the organization. Cave Canem is offering a prize of $10,000 for the selected manuscript, the largest prize in the organization’s history and one of the largest first poetry book prizes in the country. In honor of the 25th anniversary, inaugural winner Natasha Trethewey will judge the 2025 Cave Canem Prize. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
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Poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis has been announced to deliver the keynote for the Purple Takeover, a celebration of the artistry and legacy of Prince, founded by DJ Soul Sister aka Melissa A. Webber, curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive, the leading research center for the study of New Orleans jazz and related musical genres. As always, the Purple Takeover will be held in New Orleans later this summer. C Liegh will also participate in the Purple Poetry Reading immediately after his keynote, which will feature some of the most noted local and national poets, including Dillard University Professor and Louisiana Poet Laureate Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy. The keynote and poetry reading will culminate a week-long series of events. (See the full list of poets below in the calendar of events.) To get y’all ready for this year’s Purple Takeover, here is a link to last year’s keynote delivered by C Liegh along with the Q&A at the end. The full schedule of events is provided below in the calendar of events.
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Off the critical success of Black Fire This Time, edited by Dr. Kim McMillon, Black Fire This Time, Volume Two, edited by Dr. Derrick Harriell and Professor Kofi Antwi is available for preorder here and here. We are proud to inform y’all that C Liegh McInnis will have a poem, “Mississippi Like…” and a short story, “Kroger Cart,” included in this new volume. Like Volume One, Volume Two will have some of the most noted black poets, fiction writers, and essayists in the tradition of the Black Arts Movement.
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As most of y’all know, the Jackson State University Sonic Boom of the South has been selected to march in the 2025 Rose Bowl Parade, and there is a fundraiser to cover some of the costs. Although entities are selected for the Rose Bowl Parade, they must finance their way there. Here is the link to the fundraiser.
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Tougaloo College grad Dr. Howard Rambsy II aka Doc HR is the author of two excellent books, Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers and The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry. He has as dedicated time over the years to chronicling the work of C Liegh McInnis at his wonderful website Cultural Front, which can be read here. His latest commentary on McInnis’ work, “A Local Conscious Poet Who Knows a Lot about Prince,” can be read here.
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I am both honored and excited to have been interviewed by the brilliant Scott Woods, editor of Rock Critics.com, which features interviews with some of the most noted music journalists of the past sixty years. (This Scott Woods is not to be confused with the other brilliant Scott Woods who is a noted Prince scholar.) The title of the interview is “The Aesthetics of Prince: An Interview with C Liegh McInnis” and can be read here. It’s a very lengthy interview of my work as a Prince scholar and engages a few things that I haven’t discussed regarding my work on Prince. One of the coolest parts of the interview, for me, is that I got to shout out Prince scholar Harold Pride about midway through the interview and that I got to shout out the Polished Solid Prince Symposium and What Did Prince Do This Week? at the end of the interview. RockCritics.com is also on Twitter, which y’all know that I’m not. So, if y’all feel so inclined, locate and checkout his tweet about the interview as well. I hope y’all enjoy the interview and, as always, feel free to hit me back with your thoughts or feedback.
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The Jackson State University Creative Writing website is live and can be accessed here. Also, to give to this new program, go here. Once you are at the page, complete the amount and contact information, type “Department of English, Creative Writing,” in the “or other” box at the bottom of the form, and submit payment. And, here is a link to poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis discussing the newly established JSU Creative Writing Concertation and Minor.
The JSU creative writing offers a concentration and minor for its Bachelor of Arts program. Unlike many creative writing programs across the country, JSU’s creative writing concentration and minor will allow students to specialize in multiple genres if they desire. Additionally, unlike most creative writing programs across the country, JSU’s creative writing concentration and minor will encourage and prepare students to use their writing to engage social justice and socio-political issues by offering a capstone class that will match a student with an organization or institution that is doing the type of social justice work that the young writer desires to engage with one’s writing. This new concentration and minor were developed as a collaborative effort between Dr. Ebony Lumumba—Chair, Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears—Graduate Coordinator, and C Liegh McInnis. For more information, contact Dr. Lumumba at ebony.o.lumumba@jsums.edu or Dr. Smith-Spears at rashell.smith-spears@jsums.edu.
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Poet, emcee, educator, activist, and financial aid guru Dr. Treasure Shields Redmond has a new episode of her podcast, How to Find Scholarships, to which y’all can listen here.
Additionally, Dr. Redmond’s latest project is The Community Archive, which will be an African-American oral history collection with a mission to “serve as a platform for arts education and a repository for collected creative wisdom.” The first project will be a podcast series that features the stories of descendants of survivors of the 1917 East St. Louis Race Massacre. Y’all can listen to the second episode here. For more information, contact Redmond at treasure@femininepronoun.com. To view the website go here, and to donate, go here. The first episode can be heard here.
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Thanks to everyone who sent kind and encouraging feedback regarding my interview with 1$t Letter—an emcee, educator, and entrepreneur who is doing a lot with his talents to improve our community. Since the interview is so long, here are links to a few clips:
First, for my Prince folks, I discuss Prince mostly from the midway point of part two and all of part three: here
and here.
Here is a clip where I discuss how Charlie Braxton, Jimmy Kimbrell, and Jeff Gibson all impacted me early as a writer. I’ve discussed Charlie and Jimmy at length before so I’m glad that I got to discuss how Jeff impacted me as a JSU classmate, watching him be a serious writer while we were in college. At the end, I briefly discuss how my embracing the myth of American Individualism kept me from being tutored by Margaret Walker Alexander when I was in college. The entire segment is about five minutes and thirty seconds long. Y’all can stop watching when I begin discussing how James F. Cooper almost caused me to fail eleventh grade English.
Here is a clip where I discuss how my wife and stepchildren taught me the real definition of manhood.
Here is a clip where I discuss having multiple part-time jobs in college and learning how not to be a toxic male.
Here is a clip where I discuss my respect for local poet, emcee, and activist Skipp Coon and people not supporting conscious artists yet being disappointed when the artists they do support don’t meet a major moment with impactful art.
And, y’all can watch the entire interview here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Again, thanks to all of y’all who emailed your feedback and especially to y’all who watched all six parts. That is, indeed, some true love and support. In the words of the great poet Smokey Robinson as vocalized by David Ruffin of The Temptations, “I don’t need no money, fortune, or fame. I’ve got all of the riches one man can claim. What makes me feel this way? My folks, my folks, my folks, talkin’ ‘bout my folks!”
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Props to the Jackson State University Faculty Senate, under the leadership of Dr. Dawn Bishop, for passing the “Resolution of the Jackson State University Faculty Senate Defending Academic Freedom to Teach about Race, Gender Justice and Critical Race Theory Adopted by the Faculty Senate January 27, 2022,” which reads, in part, “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Jackson State University Faculty Senate resolutely rejects any attempts by bodies external to the faculty to restrict or dictate university curriculum on any matter, including matters related to racial and social justice, and will stand firm against encroachment on faculty authority by the legislature or the Boards of Trustees… BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate affirms the Joint Statement on Efforts to Restrict Education about Racism, authored by the AAUP, PEN America, the American Historical Association, and the Association of American Colleges & Universities, endorsed by over seventy organizations, and issued on June 16, 2021.”
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Every Monday at 6:30 p.m., Afrikan Art Gallery & Bookstore (800 North Farish Street) will hold weekly meetings every to discuss and organize around the newly published Long Term Strategic Plan for Black America. For more information contact Asinia Lukata Chikuyu at afrikan_tbt@yahoo.com.
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Every Tuesday, at Coffee Prose from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., Neighbors Writing Group will facilitate weekly creative writing workshop with a different lead writer. For more information, contact Dr. Alison Turner at aturner@operationshoestring.org.
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The first Tuesday of each month, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., at the Capital Club, Women for Progress of Mississippi, Inc., will host its monthly Lunch and Learn, featuring various women in impactful leadership in the city and around the country. For more information, contact mail@womenforprogress.net.
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Every Wednesday from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., Dependable Source Corp. Center for Community & Workforce Development, which is a black woman-owned business, hosts The Working Woman Report, which is a live podcast that curates conversations on a variety of topics with professional women. Y’all can join the conversation here, and for more information contact Willie Jones, owner and CEO of Dependable Source Corp at williejones@drivingyourfuturems.com.
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Every Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Refill Jackson—a nonprofit designed to equip young adults ages 18 – 24 with the skills needed to enter the workforce and be self-sufficient—holds its Friday Forums, which are at 136 S. Adams Street Jackson, MS 39203. For more information, contact Nicole McNamee at nmcnamee72@gmail.com or visit their website here.
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The first Friday of each month, at 8:00 p.m. at The Event Center (716 S Gallatin Street), Spoken Soul Open Mic holds its monthly open mic readings and performances. Hosted by Queen Speaks, the cost is $10. All poets and performers welcomed. For more information, contact Erica Garrett at ericamvsu03@gmail.com or (601) 500-3502.
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The first Saturday of each month, the Mississippi Museum of Art will begin its Access for All: Free First Saturdays. For more information, go here.
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The second and fourth Saturday of each month, Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears (rashell.spears@jsums.edu) and Dr. Shanna Smith (shanna.l.smith@jsums.edu) coordinate a creative writing workshop that meets via Zoom. That group has been meeting for almost ten years now, and many of the works developed in that workshop have been published. In fact, I’ve had at least four works that I had workshopped by the group to be published later.
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Two Saturdays a month, Afrikan Art Gallery will host program, Freedom School Saturdays, for middle and high school students that is modeled after the 1964 Freedom Summer/School Project. The mission is to will help with the intellectual empowerment of our children with course in Civics 101, A Meeting with the Elders: What to Expect in Life, Spiritual Pilgrimage to the Mississippi Delta, Spiritual Pilgrimage to Africatown, AL, photo-journalism exercises, cultural expressions and performances for Black-centered events through their Speech - Choir and Afrikan Cultural Pride Dance Troupe, financial literacy workshops, and so much more. For more information, contact Asinia Lukata Chikuyu at afrikan_tbt@yahoo.com.
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Every Saturday, noted Prince scholar and NYU Professor De Angela Duff is beginning another Prince project, What Did Prince Do This Week?, a very, very, very slow read of Duane Tudahl’s entire Prince Studio Sessions book series through an interactive, online, weekly book club web series. Professor Duff will be live via Streamyard video every Saturday at noon ET on YouTube and Facebook to discuss the parallel week, beginning in 1983. The weekly discussion will be recorded if y’all cannot attend the livestream. The first Saturday of the series, Duff was joined by Tudahl, and y’all can watch the recording of the first session here. To get notifications or to join Duff’s listserv, go to
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Each Sunday at 5:00 p.m. CST, award-winning novelist Ellen Morris Prewitt, author of In the Name of Mississippi, and Alisha Johnson Perry, children’s book author, social justice advocate, and certified fundraising executive, have joined forces to establish Contemplative Writing Group. Each week is led by a member of the group. They catch up on their writing week, then the leader offers a contemplative writing prompt. They write for 30 - 40 minutes and share if anyone want. It’s come-and-go/participate when you can and of indefinite duration—as long as folks are getting something from it, the workshop will be offered. To join the group, folks can email the School of Contemplative Living at livingschool12@gmail.com or go here.
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Mississippi-based funnymen Merc B. Williams and Cocky McFly...real-life brothers…have joined forces to create The Vibe Controllers, which is a podcast that shows the two of them in their natural element discussing various topics, with a little humor and lots of sibling banter! Y’all can checkout the podcast via Soundcloud or YouTube at soundcloud.com/thevibecontrollers and The Vibe Controllers Podcast - YouTube.
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Award-winning poet Amanda Johnston has released her April Newsletter that includes her upcoming events for the month that can be read here.
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Mississippi Humanities Council has posted its events for April that y’all can see here. And, for more information about MHC, go to its website here.
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The Center for the Study of Southern Culture has posted its April events in its latest newsletter, which can be read here.
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The International Museum of Muslim Cultures has posted its April events in its latest newsletter, which can be found here.
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Narrative 4 is an organization of creatives that uses storytelling to build community and civic engagement. To see their upcoming April events, go here.
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Contributors are being solicited for the newly commissioned Cambridge History of Black Women in the United States. The Cambridge History of Black Women in the United States (CHBW) is a five-volume history that will appeal to students, lay readers, and specialists. These volumes will be a landmark opportunity to reflect seriously on the state of scholarship on Black women in the United States, as well as reshape our thinking about their impact on American society. The editors want to showcase the best work of recent years, as well as point the way forward for a new generation of scholars and readers. They see this as a scholarly project that aims to lead the field and to educate and engage a broad audience of non-professionals. For more information of how to submit, go here.
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April 26, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. in room 428 of the Dollye M. E. Robinson Liberal Arts Building, Thee Jackson State Writers Alliance, which is the JSU student creative writing organization, will host the launching of the first issue of Thee 1877, which is a literary journal and arts magazine that publishes undergraduate and graduate student work. Y’all can view this issue here. To follow on Instagram, go here, and for more information about joining and submitting, contact jacksonstatewritersalliance@gmail.com.
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April 26, 2024, Obsidian Literature and Arts in the Black Diaspora will host two Optics of Black Listening events with award-winning poet Douglass Kearney. The first event will be an informal conversation with Kearney from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. CST at Illinois State University. The second event, Kearney will read his poetry and have a W&A from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Illinois State University. For more information and to register, go here.
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April 26 - 28, 2024, at Toussaint House in New Orleans, Poet and photographer Saddi Khali will facilitate a workshop, “The Art of Visual Storytelling: An Intimate Photography Workshop,” which teaches practices in boudoir, implied, and art nude photography. For more information and to purchase tickets, go here. Also, Khali has a new photography exhibit touring the country. To view dates, go here. For more information about Khali and his art, go here.
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April 27, 2024, at 11:00 a.m., The International Museum of Muslim Cultures will host an exclusive Gallery Talk with world-renowned wood conservationist Dr. Mostafa Sherif of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh as he shares his expertise on the analysis and conservation intervention of IMMC’s historic Moroccan Masjed (Mosque) Door. To register, go here.
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April 27, 2024, from noon – 4:00 p.m., The International Museum of Muslim Cultures will host its Islamic Heritage Month Festival, which will include mini exhibits, live music, kid’s parade, archery, pie eating contest, dabka, food trucks, puppet show, halal BBQ, vendors, games, prizes, and will feature Jackson, Mississippi’s Top Chef Nick Wallace providing free samples of halal brisket and mac. For more information, contact admin@muslimmuseum.org.
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April 27, 2024, from 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., at Kennedy King College, Muntu Dance Theatre will facilitate a Community Class with Adrean Maxwell. For more information, contact info-muntu.com@shared1.ccsend.com and go here.
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April 27, 2024, at 1:00 p.m., at Kindred Stories in Houston, TX, Torch Literary Arts is celebrating Indie Bookstore Day. Stop by to support this incredible Black-owned business, shop amazing books and merch, and learn more about Torch and how we support and amplify Black women writers. For more information, go here and here.
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April 27, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Prose Poetry” taught by Nick Makoha, award-winning author of the poetry collection Kingdom of Gravity. Prose poetry merges the lyrical and metric elements of poetry with the narrative flow of traditional prose. Often perceived as a complicated genre, it offers fresh perspectives and possibilities for the writer. will learn how to blend measured and lyrical language with plot-driven narrative. At the end of this masterclass, you will be able to write prose poems that have a lasting impression on your readers. There are limited seats available; so, to register, click here.
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April 28, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at Farish Street Baptist Church, Jackson State University Archivist Angela Stewart will be the guest speaker for the Annual Women’s Day Observance. For more information, contact angela.d.stewart@jsums.edu or call (601) 331-2410.
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April 28, 2024, at 4:00 p.m. on WLOO My 35 and streamed live on YG&E TV Roku channel and iOS app, The Young, Gifted & Empowered Awards (YG&E) is back for its 9th year to celebrate young African Americans from Mississippi and the South who are positively affecting change at local, national, and global levels. YG&E was started in 2015 to help remedy the negative stories being told about Blacks in the media. Founder, Shameka Reed, wanted to tell the untold stories of young African Americans from Mississippi and the South who are beating the odds, ignoring the noise, and positively effecting change at local, national, and global levels. Since then, YG&E has honored more than 30 individuals—young professionals who are champions in art, education, innovation, leadership, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. The honorees are between the ages of 25 – 45 and have demonstrated a noteworthy commitment to excellence and community service, including high levels of character, professionalism, and integrity. This year’s awardees include 2024 Community Organization of the Year, Mississippi M.O.V.E., comprised of three young men—Mac Epps, George Patterson, and Sabir Abdul-Haqq—who have spent their entire lives working in the sociopolitical trenches organizing, educating, and mobilizing to enable poor and black folks to obtain each aspect of needs and rights meet to fulfill their natural citizenship. Epps and Patterson joined KC 1400 Media to discuss their work and receiving 2024 COTY, which y’all can watch here. Additionally, Ashley Robinson, Jackson State University Vice President and Director of Athletics—who has a knack for making great hires and turning programs around—has been named 2024 Leader of the Year. During his short, six-year tenure, JSU Athletics has won 21 championships, posted a combined average of a 3.1 GPA for student athletes, and increased fan base and giving. The host for this year’s ceremony will be Mississippi-based funnymen Merc B. Williams and Cocky McFly—biological brothers who have joined forces to create The Vibe Controllers, which is a podcast that shows the two of them in their natural element discussing various topics, with a little humor and lots of sibling banter! For a full list of awardees and more information, go here and here.
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April 30, 2024, at noon, at the Jackson Convention Center, Oxfam and One Voice will screen Hold the Line, directed by Andrew Bogrand and Andrew Moorman, exposes the institutional inequities disadvantaged and underinvested communities have endured globally and in the US South due to a lack of critical infrastructure and relationships with influential organizations and government agencies shaping the distribution of federal infrastructure and environmental justice funding. This event is free, but to reserve a seat, go here.
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ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature has a Call for Papers for its special issue, “Decolonizing Museums, Collections and Archives in Postcolonial and Indigenous Literatures in English,” which will examine how postcolonial and Indigenous writers have been writing about museums and collections and how they have been reinventing archival methods. Please submit a 300 - 500 word abstract with a short biographical note (no more than 100 words) to the guest editor, Laura Singeot at laura.singeot@gmail.com by May 1, 2024. To see the entire CFP, go here.
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Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) has posted its exhibits and events through May. To see all exhibits go here and to see all events go here.
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May 1, 2024, from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., fiction writer, playwright, health advocate, and Mississippi native Katrina Byrd will be in conversation with the Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights and the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System For more details, go here.
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May 1, 2024, at 7:00 p.m., at Wheatsville Co-Op in Austin, TX, Torch Literary Arts will welcome award-winning author Crystal Wilkinson to celebrate her new memoir and cookbook Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghost. She’ll be signing books and making Praisesong Biscuits during the event. For more information, go here.
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The Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC) is now accepting grant applications for public humanities projects and programs with budgets between $2,501 and $10,000. MHC grants support Mississippi cultural organizations in creating experiences that stimulate meaningful community dialogue, attract diverse audiences, are participatory and engaging and apply the humanities to our everyday lives. Grants may be used to support public humanities programs, exhibits, the planning of larger projects and the development of original productions in radio, podcasts or online resources. The deadline to apply is May 1, 2024. For more information, go here.
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May 4, 2024, 3:00 p.m. = 11:00 p.m., EST, Poet and playwright Felice Belle will read poetry at the day-long Prince celebration, Wall to Wall Prince, which will be held at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre in May and feature a multitude of artists from various genres. For the complete schedule and list of artists, go here.
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May 4, 2024, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., EST, African Voices will host an evening of creativity and cultural exploration at their Print n’ Paint event! Master fine arts printmaker and visual artist Sadikisha Saundra Collier will guide you through the process of creating your very own African mask print using ink and paper. Students will experiment with making one or two prints of their own to take home. Complimentary wine will be served. For more details and to register, go here.
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Until May 11, 2024, The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience (The MAX) has a new exhibit, America at the Crossroads: The Guitar and a Changing Nation, presented by the National Guitar Museum. The exhibit includes live music, workshops, and more. For more information, go here.
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Cave Canem, one of the most important organizations in the development and nurturing of black poets, has announced its annual Cave Canem Prize, which is awarded to the best debut collection of poems submitted by a Black poet. To assist Black poets in surmounting that obstacle, Cave Canem established the Prize and created a direct route to three publishers: Graywolf Press; University of Pittsburgh Press; and University of Georgia Press. Launched in 1999 with Rita Dove’s selection of Natasha Trethewey’s Domestic Work, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Cave Canem Prize and a historic moment for the organization. Cave Canem is offering a prize of $10,000 for the selected manuscript, the largest prize in the organization’s history and one of the largest first poetry book prizes in the country. In honor of the 25th anniversary, inaugural winner Natasha Trethewey will judge the 2025 Cave Canem Prize. The deadline is May 13, 2024. For more information and to submit, go here.
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May 14, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. on the Jackson State University Plaza, the JSU Margaret Walker Alexander Center will host the 54th Gibbs-Green Commemoration to memorialize the 1970 attack on JSU by the Jackson Police Department, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, and the Mississippi National Guard, which took the lives of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, a twenty-one-year-old JSU student, and James Earl Green, a seventeen-year-old Jim Hill High School Student along with wounding eighteen others as law enforcement fired over four hundred rounds into Alexander Hall, a female Dorm. For more information, go here or contact Dr. Robert Luckett at robert.luckett@jsums.edu.
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May 17, 2024, at 5:30 p.m., Reel Sisters celebrates Women in Hip Hop and African Voices’ Hip Hop @ 50 Special Issue. To see the detailed schedule and purchase tickets, go here.
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May 18, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Pushing Formal Boundaries” taught by Dami Ajayi, author of the critically acclaimed poetry collections Clinical Blues, A Woman’s Body Is a Country, and Affection & Other Accidents. Poetry, as an art form, yields itself easily to experimentation. In a skillful hand, conventional boundaries can be stretched to extreme lengths without botching the compactness of a poem. This masterclass will show you how to move beyond the constraints of rules. Whether writing a sonnet, free verse, or sestina, you will learn how to bend form while maintaining the soul of your poem, its meaning still within the reach of your readers. The masterclass is open to writers in all stages and will be live on Zoom. To register, go here.
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June 2 – 8, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. at the Jackson State University COFO Center, the Jackson State University Catherine Coleman Creative Writing Summer Workshop will be held. Poet, playwright, editor, and cultural critic Charlie R. Braxton will be one of the featured teachers. For more information, go here and here.
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Cushcity.com is sponsoring the Black Authors Matter Children Book Awards. The deadline is June 3, 2024. For more information and to submit your book, go here.
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June 6 – 9, 2024, are the dates for the Purple Takeover, a celebration of the artistry and legacy of Prince, founded by DJ Soul Sister aka Melissa A. Webber, curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive, the leading research center for the study of New Orleans jazz and related musical genres. As always, the Purple Takeover will be held in New Orleans. Along with a week of great events, poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis will deliver the keynote and will also participate in the Purple Poetry Reading immediately after his keynote, which will feature some of the most noted local and national poets, including Dillard University Professor and Louisiana Poet Laureate Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy. To see the full list of poets and all of the events, go here. To get y’all ready for this year’s Purple Takeover, here is a link to last year’s keynote delivered by C Liegh along with the Q&A at the end. We look forward to y’all joining us, and for more information, contact DJ Soul Sister at soulsisnola@gmail.com. or go to djsoulsister.com.
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June 22, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Nuances in POF” taught by T.L. Huchu, author of the novels The Hairdresser of Harare and The Maestro, The Magistrate, and The Mathematician. Point of view (POV) shows who is telling a story and the perspective through which the story is narrated. This element is integral to the way a reader interacts with any story. First-person POV, for instance, keeps the narration limited to a single character’s perspective, while third-person omniscient POV allows for a broader view that includes the perspectives of multiple characters. Many writers have started stories afresh after realizing the initial POV used does not work, and this is where understanding the nuances in POV are most effective. Huchu will show you the advantages, limitations, reliability, and unreliability of the different points of view used in storytelling. This masterclass is open to both emerging and established writers. There are limited seats available, so go here to register.
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June 24 – 29, 2024, the Millsaps McMullan Creative Writing Summer Workshop will be held. Poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis will be one of the featured teachers. Tenth grade – college freshman application is here, and eighth – ninth grade application is here.
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Beginning June 24, 2024, Granta, a literary journal, is offering a nine-week short fiction writing class. For more information, go here.
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July 6, 13, 20, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Worldbuilding in Fantasy and Science Fiction,” taught by award-winning writer Suyi Davies Okungbowa, author of the critically-acclaimed fantasy novels David Mogo, Godhunter, winner of the 2020 Nommo Ilube Award for Best Novel, and Son of the Storm, first in his epic fantasy trilogy. Worldbuilding is a foundational element in writing fantasy and science fiction. These genres allow for new worlds to be created, worlds where the geography, history, physics, politics and religion differ greatly from that of the real world, and worldbuilding sets the background against which these otherworldly stories happen. Over the years, many writers have drawn influence from Western mythologies, and they tend to create worlds that lack elements in their own culture. One can come across stories set in Africa featuring European attributes such as dragons. This class aims to teach you how to create worlds and characters grounded in your culture and history, which readers will find novel and original. In this class, you will learn how to build imaginary worlds set with rules and boundaries that make them seem real. Also, there will be recommended readings and writing exercises. The class is open to writers at all stages. To register, go here.
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August 3, 10, 17, 24, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Plot, Subplot, and Characterization” taught by Zukiswa Wanner. This class is designed to elevate your storytelling by guiding you through plot, subplot, and characterization, the most important elements integral to any good story. For the duration of the course, you will learn how to create both an interesting plot and memorable, three-dimensional characters. Each writer will get a chance to receive feedback from other participants within the workshop and to have one-to-one consultation sessions with the tutor. The feedback will help shape the stories with the goal of giving the writer a better understanding of these basic elements of storytelling. Wanner is a South African journalist, novelist, and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary Awards (SALA) and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. In 2015, she won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for London Cape Town Joburg (2014). In 2014 Wanner was named on the Africa3 9 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature. She curated the Pan-African virtual literary festival Afrolit Sans Frontières which had over 60 writers. In 2020, she was awarded the Goethe Medal, making Wanner the first African woman to win the award. She has facilitated various workshops including Caine Prize, Afro Young Adult, Writivism Workshop, among others. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced writer, this three-week class is your chance to learn from the award-winning author of the novels The Madams, Behind Every Successful Man, and Men of the South and London Cape Town Joburg. The class will be held online via Zoom. To register for the class, go here.
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August 3, 10, 17, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Magic Realism and Surrealism,” taught by writer T. J. Benson, author of the collection of short stories, We Won’t Fade into Darkness and the novels, The Madhouse and People Live Here. Magical realism as a genre has been heavily debated especially when it comes to the classification of work from former colonies. The class will discuss it in the context of the work from the African continent and the genres it often obscures like Animism Realism, African Traditional Realism. They will also explore surrealism with contemporary examples. The aim of the class is to remove the western gaze/framing of these genres from literature emerging from the continent and see how we can play them into our own writing. We will also use contemporary visual art and music from Africa. Inclusion of indigenous story telling styles, transliteration from African languages, spiritualities and traditions and a keen interest in the genres and familiarity with stories within the genres is encouraged. The class is open to writers at all stages. To register, go here.
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Diane Williams—co-author with Richelle Putnam of A Guide to Mississippi Museums—and best-selling and award-winning novelist Angie Thomas have been announced panelist for this year’s Mississippi Book Festival, which will be September 14, 2024. For more information, go here.
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September 18 – 24, 2024, Furious Flower, one of the most important organizations for archiving, nurturing, and promoting black poetry, will hold its annual conference. For more information, go here and here.
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October 17 – 19, 2024, Cushcity.com will host the annual National Black Book Festival (NBBF). As one of the largest online sources for African-American authors and literature, NBBF attracts a wide array of authors, publishers, book clubs, libraries and individual readers from the Southwest U.S. and nationwide. For more information, including a detailed list of authors and events, go here.
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