This year’s theme, Fine Fury: Celebrating Gwendolyn Brooks at 90, underscores the conference focus on literary artists who, like Ms. Brooks, use their pen as a tool of activism. Ms. Brooks, Illinois’ former poet laureate, would have celebrated her 90th birthday on June 7, 2007. Dr. Donda West, Sonia Sanchez and Martín Espada are joined by other prolific writers and poets of the African Diaspora as part of the 17th Annual Gwendolyn Brooks Writers’ Conference.

Listen in as the following scholars and playwrights speak about issues affecting the Black Theater, its relevance, the challenges it faces, and its future: Songodina Ifatunji, playwright and professor in the Department of Communications, Media Arts and Theater at Chicago State University; Arthur M. Reese, playwright and Coordinator in the Department of Communications, Media Arts and Theater at Chicago State; Artisia Green, playwright and professor in the Department of Communications, Media Arts and Theater at Chicago State; Shepsu Aakhu, Theater instructor at DePaul University and North Park University, and Executive Producer of Ma’at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre; and Nora Brooks Blakely, Artistic Director of Chocolate Chips Theater Company.

Events recorded as part of this conference:
The Landscape of Today’s Media
The State of Black Theater
Hip Hop & Social Justice
Keynote Address: Dr. Donda West
Gwendolyn Brooks Panel
A Giant’s Day Celebration of the Life and Works of Sonia Sanchez
Sister Poets In The Black Arts Movement
Conversation with Sonia Sanchez and Haki Madhubuti
Giant’s Day Address

Recorded Thursday, October 18, 2007 at Chicago State University.