Photos from 2019 Black Authors and AARI
The Black Authors Breakfast Party and
African American Read-In is on for 2020!
Admission is FREE * Experience=Priceless
Event: Black Authors Breakfast Party and African American Read-In
Date: Friday, February 7, 2020 – 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Location: Signal Financial Federal Credit Union (Community Space)
1101 New York Avenue Northwest Entrance on I Street, 12th St NW, Washington, DC 20005
(Parking at Nation Parking, LLC, 1101 New York Ave NW, P100, Washington, DC 20005, between K Street and I Street on the West side – Updated Cost $19)
Goal: Share, discuss, and celebrate the works of African American authors in the DC metropolitan area during the 30th Anniversary of the African American Read-In.
Features: Long-established, award-winning, and rising authors, poets, historians, children’s authors, and academics, plus a continental breakfast and book-signing afterwards! D.C.’s Legendary Poet E. Ethelbert Miller will be a featured speaker. Caroline Brewer, author of the debut verse novel, Darius Daniels: Game On! will offer a “book-tasting” of the story with the accompaniment of creative, innovative and provocative vocalists and musicians.
Organizers and Partners: DC Author and Literacy Activist Caroline Brewer, Signal Financial Federal Credit Union, Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English
Contact: Signal Financial – 301-933-9100 x 280, etsegenet.zamuel@sfonline.org, Caroline Brewer, caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com
BACKGROUND
The African-American Read-In is an international celebration sponsored by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and was started by Dr. Jerrie Cobb Scott of NCTE’s Black Caucus. Brewer is a member of NCTE and the Caucus. 2020 marks the the 30th Anniversary of the Read-In. It was founded in 1990 as a one-day event in February to bring books by black authors to students attending America’s schools and universities. People of all backgrounds, including parents, grandparents, principals, government officials and authors were invited to come into schools to read favorite works by black authors. The celebration has expanded to include outreach to the general public, including prison inmates, for the entire month of February, has reached more than six million people and now includes recognition of African American poets, playwrights, composers, and storytellers.
COMPLETE LINE-UP of FEATURED AUTHORS and THEIR WORKS
- E. Ethelbert Miller, Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer, The Collected Poems of E Ethelbert Miller
- Tracy Chiles McGhee, Melting the Blues
- Alan King, Point Blank and Drift
- Natalie Hopkinson, A Mouth is Always Muffled and Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City
- Markette Sheppard, Where is the Light?
- Marjuan Canady, Callaloo: A Jazz Folktale
- Caroline Brewer, Darius Daniels: Game On!, Kara Finds Sunshine on a Rainy Day
and Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale
- Karen Wilson Ama’Echefu, Christmas Was Just Breakin’
- Diana Veiga, D.C. Public Library Civic Engagement Coordinator and Short Story Author
- Lois Cooper, Mama Said
- Deborah Barfield Berry, USA Today Washington Correspondent, 1619: The Long Road Home: Were Wanda Tucker’s ancestors America’s first slaves?
- Nichelle Smith, Coordinating Editor of USA Today’s Investigations Team, Black History Month 2020 Special Edition: The Search for Answers
*Sharon Lucas, Plan It! (The Complete Resource Guide for Authors, Book Clubs, & Literary Event Planners)– Two copies will be offered as a free gift to lucky guests!
See video from the 2019 Black Authors Breakfast Party here and C-SPAN BookTV’s coverage.
Caroline Brewer is a children’s author and literacy activist, a reading coach, former classroom teacher and Pulitzer Prize jurist and nominated journalist.
The inaugural BABP/AARI was held in the community space of Signal Financial Federal Credit Union at 1101 New York Avenue NW DC on Friday, February 1, 2019 and was aired in its entirety later in the month by C-SPAN’s BookTV.
