Join us for an evening with Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti as he reads from Liberation Narratives\: New and Collected Poems\, 1966-2009 and engages in conversation with Kevin Coval.
As a poet\, publisher\, editor and educator\, Haki R. Madhubuti has been a pivotal figure in the development of a strong Black literary tradition\, emerging from the Civil Rights and Black Arts era of the 60s and continuing to the present. Over the years\, he has published more than 28 books (some under his former name\, Don L. Lee) including YellowBlack\: The First Twenty-One Years of a Poet's Life and Black Men\: Obsolete\, Single\, Dangerous?\: The Afrikan American Family in Transition. In 1967\,Dr. Madhubuti founded Third World Press\, currently the largest independent black-owned press in the United States. He is the founder of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center at Chicago State University. He is also the co-founder of several Chicago charter schools including Betty Shabazz International Charter School\, Barbara A. Sizemore Middle School and DuSable Leadership Academy. In 2009\, he was named one of the "\;Ebony Power 150\: Most Influential Blacks in America"\; for education. In 2007\, he was named Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago Magazine and has received numerous other awards including NEA &\; NEH fellowships\, American Book Award and the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award.Dr. Madhubuti is the Ida B. Wells-Barnett University Professor at De Paul University.
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Kevin Coval is an author/spoken-word poet who has penned two critically acclaimed books\: Slingshots (EM Press 2005)\, which was named a "\;Book of the Year"\; finalist by The American Library Association\, and Everyday People (EM Press 2008). His poems have graced the pages of the Chicago Tribune\, The Spoken Word Revolution\, Rattle\, Cross Currents and The Huntington Post\, to name a few. He's appeared in four seasons of Def Poetry Jam (for which he also serves as artistic consultant)\, makes regular appearances on NPR and started the world's largest teen poetry festival\, called Louder than a Bomb\: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival.
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Tickets are $5. Your ticket not only gains you admission\, but also gets you $5 off on the purchase of any of Haki Madhubuti's or Kevin Coval's books on the night of the event.
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This event is sponsored by The Book Table\, the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation\, the Friends of the Oak Park Public Library and Midwest Media.
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