Sunday, December 18, 2011

Schedule of Events: Winter 2012

Greetings and blessings, brothers and sisters:

I hope that you are all doing well, and are persevering through these troubled times.  The holidays are coming upon us, and the new year is right around the corner.  Hopefully, many of you are preparing yourselves for your new literary venture, and having a major impact on the populace with your creative works.  Whatever that I can do to help, I will surly do it.  As is my duty, here is the latest Schedule of Events listing that I have come up with:

Zora Neale Hurston Festival for the Arts & Humanities
January 21-29, 2012
Eatonville, FL
www.zorafestival.com

New Year Book Jubilee
January 28, 2012
Dallas, TX
www.texaslit.com

Harlem Fine Arts Show
February 10-12, 2012
New York, NY
www.hfas.org

Black Comic Book Day
February 11, 2012
College Park, GA
www.onyxcon.com

Black Comic Book Day (Detroit)
February 11, 2012
(The Truth Bookstore)
Southfield, MI

Black Comic Book Day (New York)
February 18, 2012
(Hue Man Bookstore)
New York, NY

National Council for Black Studies
NCBS 36th Annual National Conference
March 7-10, 2012
location tba
www.ncbsonline.org

National Black Herstory Conference & Awards
March 22-24, 2012
Atlanta, GA
www.blackherstory.org

Negritud Conference (Journal of Afro-Latin American Studies)
March 22-24, 2012
San Juan, PR
www.afrocubaweb.com/negritud

National Black Writers Conference
March 29-April 1, 2012
Brooklyn, NY
www.nationalblackwritersconference.org

Dayton Book Expo
April 28, 2012
Dayton, OH
www.daytonbookexpo.com

Hip Hop Literacies Conference
May 9-11, 2012
Ohio State University
Tba, OH
www.hiphopeducation.tumblr.com


This is by no means a complete list.  If any of you has any information that you would like to share, the list will be updated as soon as possible.  We are also working on holding the Expo for the fall of 2012.  Stay tuned!!!!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Black Science Fiction Society

In my cyber travels, I have been fortunate enough to come across many interesting people, and some fascinating online communities.  I've been able to cross paths with like-minded individuals, and other artistic souls.  Since I've always been one to infuse my politics with my art, I had always hoped to be able to find a place where I could do just that.

Enter the Black Science Fiction Society.

They exist on a Ning platform.  They're an online community that you can easily join, dedicated to expanding the Black/African presence in the genre of Science Fiction.  Instead of just whining about not getting acceptance from white folks in that field, these people are actually doing something about it.  They are very progressive in their ideas, and also in their creative ventures.  One main thing about them that I like, is that they do a lot of stuff offline, as well as on their site.

You have many creative brothers and sisters on that site.  They go from self-published authors, to artists...animators to publishers...poets to performance artists.  They are a very tight-knit community, and are very supportive of each other.

They have many different genres that they cater to; Sword and Soul, Fantasy, Steampunk/Steamfunk, Military, Action/Adventure, Suspense, Fan Fiction, Comic Books, and so many others.  They're not all diehard Afrocentrics, but a lot of their stories have elements of not only our continental culture, but also elements of the Diaspora.

Many are trying to collaborate with each other to work on projects.  They've already produced a magazine, and a few anthologies.  They even have an online store where you can purchase a number of the members' books.  They've even created an online TV channel; you can join that site, and upload your content.

It is definitely a way for me to be able to creatively express myself.  I've even posted and excerpt or two of some novels that I want to work on.  I've always wanted a way to 'edu-tain' the masses.  Perhaps for my next book idea, I should try my hand at fiction....?

If you get the opportunity, please go to their site, and join up.  Purchase some of their products, and sample some of the groups that they have to offer.  We need to support our own.  Because if we don't....who will?


www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com


They also have a sister site called Wagadu


www.wagadu,ning.com