The Centers at MEC
Center for Black Literature
Dr. Brenda Greene, Executive Director
tel. 718.270.6976

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The Center for Black Literature

The Center for Black Literature builds on the success of  the National Black Writers Conferences (NBWCs) that have been held at Medgar Evers College.  Its mission is to expand, broaden, and enrich the public's knowledge and aesthetic appreciation of the value of black literature.

The NBWC, directed by Professor Elizabeth Nunez, has been held at Medgar Evers College since 1986.  Inspired by the late John Oliver  Killens and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, this conference was initially convened over a period of four days to bring together writers, critics, book-sellers, book reviewers, and the general public in order to establish a dialogue on the social responsibility of the black writer.  Since 1986, subsequent conferences (1988, 1991, 1996, & 2000) have expanded  this conversation to include discussions on stereotypes in black literature, the direction of black literature, the renaissance in black literature, and the impact of black literature on society.  Each conference has built on the previous one, attracting a national and international audience. The proceedings of 1996 conference were published in 1998 in both hard cover and soft cover by Lang Publisher.  The most recent conference attracted about 2500 people, and received widespread media coverage in newspapers and journals across the country including the Washington Post, The New York Times (two articles, one the lead article in the Arts section) The Chicago Tribune, USA Today and The Atlanta Journal.  It was taped by Black Entertainment Television, C-Span and CNN.

The Center for Black Literature will fulfill its mission by:  1) building an audience for the reading, discussion, and critical analysis  of contemporary black literature; 2) serving as a forum for the research and study of black literature; 3) providing opportunities for writers to study the craft of writing;  4) collecting, preserving, and documenting conference proceedings, literature, and black literary resources; 5) providing a writer-in-residency program for established writers; 6) collaborating with community institutions and literary organizations; 7) convening conferences, symposia, workshops, and seminars related to the study, teaching, and discussion of black literature; 8) sponsoring  workshops on the business of  book-selling, publishing, and reviewing books;  9) supporting college programs, including the English BA program, the Mass Communications and Performing Arts program, and MEC students and faculty; and 10) using the literary arts to support other educational institutions. 

Through its collaboration with the English BA Program, the Center for Black Literature will heighten students' awareness of black literature and support student concentrations in professional writing, creative writing, and cross-cultural literature. For example, students who choose professional or creative writing as a concentration may do an internship with the Center's writer-in-residence or with a mentor in one of the collaborating organizations.  A student majoring in the cross-cultural literature concentration may choose to conduct research using the Center's special collections library.  The Center will also provide a pool of writing specialists who could serve as student mentors and who could help to support the creative and professional writing components of the English BA Program

The activities for the Center for Black Literature will be disseminated mainly through its journal, published proceedings, newsletters, radio programs, cable TV, online web sites, onsite audiences for its workshops, conversations and readings series and the NBWC conference. The Center will also develop a network of audiences via the internet to link literary groups, particularly black literary organizations, booksellers, book clubs, fraternities and sororities, in order to provide then with information about the Center.  Such a network will be both national and international in scope.

For more information, please contact Dr. Brenda Greene at (718) 270-6976 or via email at bgreene@mec.cuny