African American elders, who have penned their personal tales, will be speaking at a special book event saluting members of the Dr. Edith Rock Writing Workshop for Elders on Wednesday, December 7, from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm at the Medgar Evers College Edison O. Jackson Auditorium located at 1638 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.
Dr. Edith Rock Writing Workshop for Elders is part of the John Oliver Killens Reading Series monthly program at the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College. The Dr. Edith Rock Writing Workshop for Elders, founded in 2003, is intended to preserve the memoirs of elders throughout the African Diaspora whose lives span a significant part of the twentieth century and beyond.
Thirteen writers from New York City and beyond, who are part of the Dr. Edith Rock Writing Workshop for Elders, are featured in the 2022 published Fall/Winter Tales of Our Times Anthology The Year 2020: Looking Back for Healing, Looking Forward with Hope.
The December 7 program will have reflections from the authors, select readings from the anthology, a discussion, a question-and-answer session, and a book signing. Some of the works in The Tales of Our Times anthology include Time for a Change by Lena E. Hall; Oh, America! by Ebun Adelona; When Will You Be Ready? by Shirley V. H. Cooper; Wake Up, America by Joan Corbett; Sadness by William Craig; Letter to America by Elder Flournoy II; What Is America to Thee by Rebecca Plunkett; The Satin-Lined Coffin by Glenda Pollard; Letter to America by Teresa M. Snyder; Aim by Claudette Joy Spence; Greetings, America by Sylvia Jones Suescan; and Greetings, America by Cynthia Goodison Tompkins. In 2023, Dr. Edith Rock Writing Workshop for Elders will celebrate its 20th anniversary.
The Dr. Edith Rock Writing Workshop for Elders workshop began as the Writing Project for Older African Americans. Its purpose was to gather information from older Black Americans, ages 60 years and older, whose history is likely to be distorted or lost for lack of original documentation.
Dr. Edith Rock Writing Workshop for Elders has published five anthologies. Award-winning journalist and novelist Eisa Nefertari Ulen is the long-time workshop program coordinator. To attend the December 7 book event, RSVP at www.centerforblackliterature.org.