Summer is nearly over, so I’m taking this time to make an announcement.  Many of you know that I conceived, curated, and moderated a reading/discussion series called Women Writers of the Diaspora, which ran continuously for a decade. My idea for the series was to create a space to celebrate the fast-growing body of writing by African and African-diasporan women (African-American, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latina, Afro-European, Afro-Asian, and continental African).

I am thrilled to be able to say that, thanks to the extraordinary friendship and generosity of former associate chair at The New School’s Parson School of Design, Atim Anette Oton, the series will be re-born in Harlem--a renaissance if you will (pun intended)--on September 17, 2015, at her recently-opened Calabar Import Store at the corner of 134th Street & Frederick Douglass Blvd. in Harlem, NY. 

I owe a great deal of thanks to New School folks.  While I personally reached out to most of the 

series’ participants, it was Professor Elaine Savory who got the ball rolling by putting me in touch with Opal Palmer Adisa and Ifeona Fulani, the two authors featured in the series' inaugural program, and I want to give a shout out to Caroline Berger, former assistant director of The New School Bachelor’s Program and Thelma Armstrong, executive assistant in the dean’s office at The New School for General Studies for their author suggestions. At least five of the featured writers were/are connected with The New School either as either instructors, administrators or students. 

Past writers featured in the series include Opal Palmer Adisa, Keisha-Gaye Anderson, Esther Armah, Jacqueline Bishop, Pamela Booker, Merle Collins, Carole Boyce Davies, Bridget Davis, LaTasha Diggs, Kim Coleman Foote, Ifeona Fulani, Monica Hand, Juliet P. Howard, Linda Susan Jackson, Pamela Jackson, Jacqueline Johnson, Tayari Jones, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, Cynthia Mannick, Diana McCaulay, Rosalind McLymont, Pam Mordecai, Elizabeth Nunez, Ebele Oseye, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Cecily Rodway, Gammy Singer, Danyel Smith, Patricia Smith, Martha Southgate, Patricia Spears-Jones, Mecca Jamilah Sulivan, Eisa Ulen, and Tiphanie Yanique. 

Stay tuned for information on the 2015-2016 lineup of writers.  Meanwhile, please “like” the Women Writers of the Diaspora FB page and please feel free to shoot me a message at womenwritersofdiaspora@gmail.com if you have candidates or suggestions for the series.