
George Clinton and me at the book release party for his memoir, Hey George, Ain’t That Funkin Kinda Hard on You.
A publisher recently asked me for a list of big book events I’d participated in and authors I’d work with over the course of my career. Here’s where I am with recalling the festivals, fairs and conferences as a presenter. The list isn’t exhaustive but it does well represent the arch of my story in publishing over the last 30 + years. I’m reminded of the riches that my work in words has brought me. I made the money the a college-educated Black woman hopes to make from hard work, but much more than that I banked experiences being in the presence, working with and relating to brilliant and inspiring people.
Appearances
Here are conferences, festivals and big book events that I’ve presented and been featured at. There are many more that I have attended and participated in in my capacity as in-house editor–at Simon & Schuster (1985 – 1991 and again 2002 – 2014) and Amistad Press. The list of authors are among the ones I signed, edited and managed over the course of my career, since 1986 up-to-now.
2016
University of Georgia, Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) – August 3 – presenter
University of Colorado, Denver Publishing Institute – July 28 – presenter
National Black Writers Conference, Brooklyn, New York – March – panelist
2015
Oxford Book Fair Oxford, England – presenter
Virgin Islands Book Festival, St. Croix -keynote
PEN World Voices Festival, New York City – moderator
National Black Book Festival, Houston, Texas – keynote
2014
Harlem Bookfair – Keynote (C-Span broadcast and archive) Address
African Film Festival – Staged dialogue with author, Raquel Cepeda
Kweli Writers Conference – panelist
2013
National Black Arts Festival – paid consultant
(I’ve appeared at the Festival as a presenter a half dozen times over the last 25 years.)
African Film Festival – Staged dialogue with Kathleen Cleaver
Out of the Binders – A Professional Development Conference
2012
Anguilla Literary Festival
National Black Book Convention, Atlanta, Georgia – panelist
Brooklyn Book Festival – moderator
2010
The Oracle Set, Book Club Luncheon, Washington, DC – keynote address
Kweli Writers Conference – panelist

2006 – 2008
Up South International Book Festival, New York City – founder, producer, presenter
Featured authors: Ruby Dee, Aminatta Forna, Amiri Baraka, Toure, Mohammad L. Ali, Maryse Conde, Shirin Nashat, Reyna Grande, Oscar Hijuelos, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, Colin Channer, Thomas Glaves, Opal Palmer Adisa , Ngugi wa Thiongo, Clyde Taylor & more.
The venues: Harlem Stage, Harlem School of the Arts, Aaron Davis Hall, The Schomburg Center for Black Studies (NYPL)
National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ) Annual Convention, Las Vegas
National Black Writers Conference, Brooklyn, New York
Before 2006
Calabash Literary Festival, Treasure Beach, Jamaica
Texas Writers Guild- Austin, Texas
University of Oklahoma – Oklahoma City
Kennedy Center, Washington, DC – co-curated & presented African Literary Series (two concurrent years)
Yosemite Writers Conference – reading from Speak, So You Can Speak Again
Jerusalem Book Fair, Israel – an Editorial Fellow
North Carolina Writers Conference – panelist
Alex Haley Festival – Knoxville, Tennessee – presented
Beck Cultural Center – Knoxville, Tennessee – book signing (Up South: Stories, Studies, & Letters of This Century’s African American Migrations)
Teachers & Writers – New York City – book signing (Up South)
The Literary Guild – a Harlem literary series curated by Lana Turner (Up South)
University of Rouen, Rouen, France – presenting a paper on writer Toni Cade Bambara at a conference dedicated to her work.
Toni Morrison Society – presenter
Organization of Women Writers in the African Diaspora (OWWA) – panelist, New York University

Shirley Sherrod and me at Hammond’s House, Atlanta, Georgia, discussing her book, The Courage to Hope
Authors
Arthur Ashe
Margaret Walker Alexander
Guillermo Arriaga
Andrew Billingsley
Rashonda Tate Billingsley*
Donald Bogle
Lloyd Boston
Adam Bradley
Raquel Cepeda
Farai Chideya
Pearl Cleage
George Clinton
Common
Maryse Conde
Camille Cosby
Dorothy Cotton
Miles Davis
Ruby Dee
Tananarive Due
Flores Forbes
Alfred Fornay
Keli Goff
Reyna Grande
Ben Greenman
Alvin Hall
Rashad Harrison
David Henderson
David Hilliard
Shannon Holmes
Gen. Russell Honore
bell hooks
Dr. Lucy Hurston*
T.D. Jakes
Beverly Johnson
Spike Lee
Joan Lester
Jenifer Lewis (coauthoring a forthcoming book by actor in ABC- TV Black-ish)*
Benilde Little
James Meredith
V.Y. Mudimbe
Walter Mosley
Jonell Nash
Stacey Patton
Melvin Van Peebles
Nora Pierce
Bill Plimpton
Renee Poussaint
Kevin Powell
Prince
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Victor Rivers
Penelope Rowland
Victoria Rowland
Carl Hancock Rux
The Schomburg Center for Black Studies (NYPL)*
Ntozake Shange
Shirley Sherrod
Danny Simmons
Tavis Smiley
Vickie Stringer
Frank Stewart & Kamoinge
Indu Sundaresan
Lalita Tademy
Mikki Taylor
Susan L. Taylor
Lori L. Tharps
Toure
Quincy Troupe
Blair Underwood
Eisa Ulen
Dionne Warwick
Sheila Weller
Richard Williams (father of Venus & Serena)
Damon Wayans
Kanye West
Zane
*Edited, consulted, or served as writing partner, as an independent contractor.
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