Eclectic mix of African-American authors host 10th annual Hurston/Wright Writers Week workshops

By Marcia Meredith

RICHMOND, Va. — A Pulitzer-Prize-winning author, a two-time Emmy nominee and other American writers will be the hosts of the 10^th annual Hurston/Wright Writers Week workshops from July 16-22 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The program, geared toward emerging African-American authors, was developed in 1990 by the Hurston/Wright Foundation housed at Virginia Commonwealth University.

During each three-hour workshop, accomplished contemporary writers will be available to critique the work of unpublished and published writers who have been accepted to the program. Public readings by the program’s leaders will be presented as part of each workshop.

"I started the Hurston/Wright Foundation a decade ago as a way to extend encouragement and support to the emerging community of African-American writers," said Marita Golden, founder of the foundation and VCU English professor. "These workshops are designed to address the traditional and continuing under-representation of writers of color."

The workshops are named after Zora Neale Hurston, novelist, anthropologist, folklorist, journalist and playwright, who was a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance – an unprecedented period of artistic activity among African Americans in New York in the 1920s. Richard Wright, a novelist, journalist, short-story writer and political essayist, witnessed and participated in most of the major political movements of the 20^th century.

This year’s workshop leaders and their tracks include:

Nonfiction

: Michael Cottman is a Pulitzer-Prize winning writer for The Washington Post. His books include The Million Man March and The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie.

Short Story

: Patricia Elam is an O-Henry Prize winning short-story writer, whose works have been widely published. Her first novel will be published in January 2001.

Screenwriting

: David Mills, a Los Angeles-based screenwriter, has penned scripts for the television dramas "NYPD Blue," "E.R.," "Picket Fences" and "Homicide: Life on the Street." Mills is a two-time Emmy nominee and is the recipient of the Writers Guild of America Award.

Poetry

: Nikky Finney is author of Rice and On Wings Made Of Gauze. She writes and works in Lexington, Ky., where she is a founding member of a community-based writing collective.

Building the Novel

: David Haynes is the author of five novels for adults including his recent work All American Dream Dolls. Granta Magazine selected him as one of the Best of the Young American Novelists. Haynes’ stories have been published in many journals including Gargoyle and Glimmer Train.

For details on the Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Hurston/Wright Writers Week workshops, call (804) 225-4729.