Ralph Cheo Thurmon, founder of the “Writing in the Circle of Life, Love Creativity and More” Writers’ Workshop, will host From Freedom Riders to Freedom Writers King Holiday literary festival celebrating the poet voices and writer griots of human and civil rights movements past and present.
Presented in partnership with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History and the Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library at Emory University, this two-day event will take place in venues both at Emory and in the King Historic District in the city of Atlanta, January 14-15.
From Freedom Riders to Freedom Writers Literary Festival 2012 will highlight the work of poet, activist and historian, Eugene B. Redmond as he marks the 20th anniversary of his award winning publication DRUMVOICES REVUE and EBR Writers Club’s 25th Anniversary Year.
Acknowledging the written word as a tool for change, spanning from protest poetry to the foretelling of hip-hop and beyond, this publication has served as a drum voice for justice for two decades by connecting audiences across generations, races and nations. Its pages have creatively chronicled the struggle for freedom with contributions from such literary legends as Margaret Walker Alexander, Mari Evans, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez and many more.
Saturday, January 14, 2012, at 6 p.m., audiences will participate in an ancestral ceremony led by Eugene B. Redmond reading poetic voices passed in an event entitled, DRUMVOICES CIRCLE. Atlanta poets and authors who have contributed over the years to DRUMVOICES and the “drum circle” will read as they celebrate poet ancestors who have also shared in this great literary history. This event will take place at the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History.
Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 3pm, as a part of Emory University’s annual King Holiday celebration, audiences will join author, historian Dr. Richard A. Long as he interviews Eugene B. Redmond. Attendees will learn how Redmond has dedicated his life to preserving the artistic legacy of such greats as Katherine Dunham, Henry Dumas and Miles Davis all while shaping the literary cannon of a generation. The interview will be followed by a poetry reading by Redmond and reception at 5 p.m., all taking place at Emory’s Woodruff Library in the Jones Room.
