STRUCK BY ZORA
Zora
Neale Hurston (b. 1891) has had a powerful influence on American readers and
writers, especially African Americans. Alice Walker and Toni Morrison are just
two of the writers who claim to be following in her footsteps, and Oprah Winfrey
Presents recently brought her work to the attention of an even wider public with
the ABC movie of Hurston’s powerful Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Thomasenia
Myers of Yonkers and several local writers including Brenda Connor-Bey,
Jacqueline Johnson, Therese Folkes Plair, and E. J. Antonio will discuss
and celebrate Hurston’s impact.
Thomasenia Myers is Professor Emeritus, Purchase College, SUNY, Literature Board of Study. She is the recipient of awards for Excellence in Teaching from the United University Professionals and the New York State Chancellor. She has been a guest lecturer at museums, libraries, and historical societies and has lectured on African-American literature, culture and women’s studies.
Brenda
Connor-Bey, who teaches at the HVWC and is a member of its board, is an
active writer-in-residence throughout the region. She writes both prose
and poetry, much of it inspired by Hurston, and
is the recipient of many grants and awards, including four PEN awards
and Outstanding Arts Educator from the Westchester Fund for Women and
Girls.
Jacqueline
Johnson currently teaches poetry at the Frederick Douglas Creative Arts
Center in New York City. Her poetry collection, A Gathering of Mother
Tongues, won the White Pine Press Award for Poetry, and her poems
have appeared in many anthologies. She is also the author of Stokely
Carmichael: The Story of Black Power.
Therese
Folkes Plair's storytelling blends myth, song, and ethnography, and for over 25
years, audiences from here to Europe and Africa have embraced her both as a master
teller and a gifted teacher of this ancient art form. She has taught a wide range
of multidisciplinary workshops for UNICEF and for schools and community groups
across the country.
E.J.
Antonio is a founding committee member of and a volunteer poet for the
Poetry Caravan, which brings readings and workshops into Westchester area
nursing homes, shelters and rehabilitation facilities. She has been featured
in readings throughout the region and her work has been published widely
online and in print. She is a Cave Canem NY Regional Fellow and was recently
nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Audience comments about Hurston will be welcomed, particularly from writers inspired by her.
Suggested Donation: $5 ($3 for HVWC members and those under age 18)
The readings at the HVWC are made possible in part by a grant from the Bydale Foundation; the David G. Taft Foundation; the Orchard Foundation; and the Thendara Foundation; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and by Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government, corporations and individuals.