National Black Writers Conference: Isabel Wilkerson

TThe Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in colloboration with the Eleventh National Black Writers Conference, presents "The Impact of Migration in the Literature of Black Writers" Preconference Event. A discussion and book signing with Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration . The Warmth of Other Suns is a literary nonfictional narrative that stresses the value and significance of the Great Migration as a major movement in this century. It heightens awareness of the injustices faced by Blacks who migrated from the South and the challenges they faced as they encountered economic hardships and racism. Isabel Wilkerson won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for her reporting as Chicago bureau chief of The New York Times. This award made her the first Black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first African American to win for individual reporting. The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, Cuny, will host the Eleventh National Black Writers Conference (NBWC) on Thursday, March 29 through Sunday, April 1, 2012, on the college campus at 1650 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Centered around the theme “The Impact of Migration, Popular Culture, and the Natural Environment in the Literature of Black Writers,” the 2012 Conference will honor literary and cultural icons Kenyan-born writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o; poet, novelist, essayist and publisher Ishmael Reed; poet Nikki Giovanni; and Dr. Howard Dodson, former director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.