Zora neale hurston festival 2017 lineup
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Although Zora Neale Hurston is most known for her novel Their Eyes Are Watching God, published in 1937, she authored numerous works of literature in the first half of the 20th century, including novels, short stories, plays, a collection of southern African-American folklore, and an autobiography.
Hurston was born in January 1891 and grew up in Eatonville, Florida, an all-black community near Orlando. She said that she had a very comfortable, happy childhood until her mother died in 1904. After her father remarried, Hurston was shuffled between various family members until she left home to work as a maid to a troupe of travelling performers. She lied about her age throughout her life, starting when she reported her birth year as 1901 in order to complete high school, because, at age 26, she would have been too old to qualify for free public schooling.
Hurston went on to attend Howard University and Barnard College in the early 20s, around the same time that she start
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“Damnificados” Won 2017 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction
Western New Mexico University’s Writer-in-Residence’s novel, “Damnificados,” won another major award recently. Author J.J. Amaworo Wilson accepted the 2017 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction in Washington, DC, last week.
“The Hurston/Wright fryst vatten particularly special to me because it’s an international award for the Black diaspora. The organization promotes both literature and social justice—two elements close to my heart,” Wilson said.
Judges applauded “Damnificados” for a “fabulist and sandig dystopia that is nearly allegorical in its portrayal of the dispossessed,” according to an article in the Washington Post.
Introduced in 2001, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award honors the best in Black literature in the United States and around the globe. Fiction, nonfiction and poetry honorees are selected in a juried competition. Other 2017 nominees in the Debut Fiction cate
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Celebrating its thirtieth annual event, Humanities Tennessee today released its lineup of award-winning, bestselling authors who will headline the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 12-14. The roster includes such notables as Rick Bragg, Ben Fountain, Craig Johnson, Tayari Jones, Lorrie Moore, Celeste Ng, Deborah Plant, Luis Alberto Urrea, The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor, and Jacqueline Woodson.
The Southern Festival of Books is a free event that annually attracts 25,000 attendees, creating dialogue around new literature and cultural issues, and introducing readers of all ages to favorite authors and new writers, all of whom discuss and autographs their books at the festival. Invited authors include Pulitzer Prize winners, New York Times bestsellers, and book-club favorites. Thanks to a diverse lineup of celebrated authors, the Southern Festival of Books has become one of the most popular literary events of the South.
Marquee appearances and events for the 2018 festi