Kwansaba cum Haiku: Sacramento Annual Black Book Fair 2015
Reading is as important as eating.
--Ralph Ellison
Once Black Books were wrought
by Oak Park's School of
Afro-American Thought
“Brickhouse” & “Underground” soular spots witness polyglots
testify “Straight Out”--“writin'isfightin'”--as
Halifu Osumare, Bill Strickland, Marvin X, Denise
Nicholas, Diane Pinderhughes, S. Pearl Sharp, David
Covin & Charles Blackwell scribe like Ishmael's
“reeds.” Rudy Martin's whisper unfurls fictive/spoken
whirls & pearls. The nerve of words!
Eugene B. Redmond
Ritual ground known as Oak Park hosted the Second Annual Sacramento Black Book Fair June 5-7 with dozens of w/riters, thinkers, filmmakers, musicians & visual artists in nine venues--& hundreds of children & adult attendees. Mind mining panels, literary & spoken word performances, autograph parties, receptions & walks near historic sites such as the Women's Civic Improvement Club and the former Oak Park School of Afro-American Thought (of the 1970's: thanks James Fisher & Marie Collins!) were among the rich offerings. Few other collectives in the nation are as threaded into their communities as the SBBF which boasts scores of supporters, sponsors & partners. http://www.sacramentoblackbookfair.com/