Festival Closing Keynote Conversation
with EDWIDGE DANTICAT and DR. FARAH JASMINE GRIFFIN
Monday, September 30, 2024, 7:00 - 8:30PM EST
at Akwaaba, NYC
We’re overjoyed to present WE’RE ALONE: ESSAYS (Graywolf Press) by MacArthur Fellow EDWIDGE DANTICAT at Akwaaba on Monday, September 30th, 7PM - 8:30PM EST.
Join us as we watch her words come to life with a dance performance created by Ballet Hispánico (BH) choreographer Rodney Hamilton and BH dancer, Bria Vainqueur. Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of IN SEARCH OF A BEATIFUL FREEDOM: NEW AND SELECTED ESSAYS (W.W. Norton), will moderate the conversation.
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
We will be livestreaming the event for those who are not able to join us in person!
RSVP at events@kwelijournal.org
Please note: For security purposes, please register with your full name and the full names of your guests and specify if you are attending virtually or in person. Thank you.
Kweli Journal is excited to partner with Akwaaba to present this special #KweliLitFest24 festival event.
ARTISTS
EDWIDGE DANTICAT
Edwidge Danticat is the Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor of the Humanities in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. She received her B.A. in French Literature from Barnard College and her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Brown University. She is the author of seventeen books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection, Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist, The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; the novels-in-stories, The Dew Breaker, Claire of the Sea Light, and The Art of Death, a National Book Critics Circle finalist for Criticism. She has written seven books for children and young adults, a travel narrative, After the Dance, and a collection of essays, Create Dangerously.
Her memoir, Brother, I'm Dying, was a 2007 finalist for the National Book Award and a 2008 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. She is the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States, The Beacon Best of 2000, Haiti Noir, Haiti Noir 2, and Best American Essays 2011. She is a 2009 MacArthur Fellow, a 2018 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, a 2018 winner of the Neustadt Prize, a 2019 winner of the Saint Louis Literary Award, a 2020 United States Artist Fellow, a 2020 winner of the Vilceck Prize, and a 2023 winner of the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Her story collection, Everything Inside, was a 2020 winner of the Bocas Fiction Prize, The Story Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Prize.
Her essay collection We're Alone was recently published by Graywolf Press, and a novel, The Once and Future Dead, is forthcoming from Knopf in 2025.
DR. FARAH JASMINE GRIFFIN
Farah Jasmine Griffin is the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African American Studies at Columbia University, where she also served as the inaugural Chair of the African American and African Diaspora Studies. Professor Griffin received her B.A. in History & Literature from Harvard and her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale. She is the author or editor of eight books including Who Set You Flowin?: The African American Migration Narrative (Oxford, 1995), If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday (Free Press, 2001), and Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II (Basic Books, 2013).
Griffin collaborated with composer, pianist, Geri Allen and director, actor S. Epatha Merkerson on two theatrical projects, for which she wrote the book: The first, “Geri Allen and Friends Celebrate the Great Jazz Women of the Apollo,” with Lizz Wright, Dianne Reeves, Teri Lyne Carrington and others, premiered on the main stage of the Apollo Theater in May of 2013. The second, “A Conversation with Mary Lou” featuring vocalist Carmen Lundy, premiered at Harlem Stage in March 2014 and was performed at The John F. Kennedy Center in May of 2016. Her most recent book, Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature was published by W.W. Norton in September 2021. Griffin is a 2021-22 Guggenheim Fellow and Mellon Foundation Fellow in Residence.
RODNEY HAMILTON
Rodney Hamilton began his training in his native St. Louis at several schools including Carr Lane V.P.A., the Center of Contemporary Arts, and Alexandra School of Ballet. He also studied with Ms. Katherine Dunham and joined the chorus at the MUNY where he performed for seven years. After arriving in New York City, he graduated with a BFA in Dance from the Juilliard School and joined Ballet Hispánico where he was a principal dancer and assistant rehearsal director for 10 years. Mr. Hamilton holds an MFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He has taught ballet, modern, and Dunham technique all over the world. Mr. Hamilton is happy to be returning home to Ballet Hispánico as a faculty member at the School of Dance and to take on the role of BHdos Rehearsal Director.
BRIA VAINQUEUR
Bria Vainqueur was born and raised in New Jersey. She began her studies in dance at three years old and is currently a part of the Pa’lante Scholarship Program at Ballet Hispánico. “The Pa’lante Scholars initiative is an innovative, full-tuition scholarship for professional studies training designed to bridge the gap between the pre-professional and professional stages of a dancer’s career. Ballet Hispánico is answering the need for more career centered programs that build artistry and leadership for our communities, without the financial burden often tied to professional development.” Bria is in her second season with Pa’lante.
KEY EVENT INFO:
Performance, Reading & Conversation feat. Edwidge Danticat with Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin
A #KweliLitFest24 Festival Event
Date: Monday, September 30th, 7PM - 8:30PM EST
Location: Akwaaba (347 MacDonough St., Brooklyn, NY 11233)
A Look Back | #KweliLitFest23 at Ballet Hispánico
with
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ingrid Rojas Contreras
