Nic Stone

Andrea Nicole Livingstone, known as Nic Stone, is an American author of young adult fiction and middle-grade fiction, best known for her debut novel Dear Martin and her middle-grade debut, Clean Getaway. Her novels have been translated into six languages.

Stone was born and raised in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. She has a degree in Psychology from Spelman College.

Her debut novel Dear Martin, about a high school senior in a predominantly white school who starts writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after he has a dangerous encounter with racist police officers, was sold as a proposal in a two-book deal and published in 2017 by Crown Books for Young Readers.

The book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #4. It was also chosen as a finalist for the William C. Morris award in 2017 and received a starred review from Booklist. It has been published and translated in Germany, Brazil, Indonesia, The Netherlands, UK, Turkey, and Romania. Two years after it was first published, Dear Martin again hit the New York Times bestseller list, for Young Adult Paperbacks and at #1, in February 2020.

Her book, "Dear Martin," was banned by hundreds of school districts. Columbia County School System removed the book from curriculum options provided as supplemental reading material to teachers in 2019. At the time, school leaders said it was due to, "racial tendencies as a negative attribute of society."

Dr. Akinyele Umoja

Akinyele Umoja is a scholar-activist and founding member of the New Afrikan Peoples Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Umoja is currently a Professor of Africana Studies at Georgia State University. He is the author of the award-winning book, We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance and the Mississippi Freedom Movement (New York University, 2013).

We Will Shoot Back was named the 2014 Anna Julia Cooper/ C.L.R. James Award for the best book in Africana Studies by the National Council of Black Studies and also earned the 2014 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. He is also co-editor of Greenwood Press Black Power Encyclopedia (2018), which was named on the Reference and User Services Association’s 2019 List of Outstanding References for Adults. Umoja was also the editor of a special issue of The Black Scholar (2018) on the legacy of his comrade; revolutionary activist, attorney, and late Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, the Honorable Chokwe Lumumba. Umoja’s research has also been featured in several other journals and anthologies.

Baba Umoja has been an activist and organizer for well over four decades, primarily as an advocate for reparations, the freedom of political prisoners, and solidarity of the Black Liberation movement with people across the globe fighting for human rights and freedom from oppression.

Tayari Jones

New York Times best-selling author Tayari Jones is the author of four novels, most recently An American Marriage. Published in 2018, An American Marriage is an Oprah’s Book Club Selection and also appeared on Barack Obama’s summer reading list as well as his year-end roundup. The novel was awarded the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize), Aspen Words Prize and an NAACP Image Award. It has been published in two dozen countries.

Jones, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, has also been a recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship, and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. Her third novel, Silver Sparrow, was added to the NEA Big Read Library of classics in 2016.

Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is an Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University and the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University.

Feminista Jones

Feminista Jones is an educator, feminist writer, public speaker, community activist, and retired social worker. She is an award-winning writer and the author of the critically acclaimed Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World From the Tweets to the Streets (Beacon). Her work centers around diversity, inclusion, and equity, queer identity, race and culture, feminism and intersectionality, mental health, and social work. She is a Ph.D. candidate at Temple University where she also teaches courses on the African American Queer Experience, The Black Woman, Race and Media, and others related to the intersections of race, gender, and sexual identity.

Jones’ passion and talent for writing have led to her being featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Essence, Out, Complex, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Salon, and EBONY magazine to name a few publications. She currently operates her own subscription-based platform and contributes to various publications as a freelancer and commissioned writer. She’s also been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network, MSNBC, Huffington Post Live, and more.

Because of her work as an activist, Jones has been extensively featured in publications around the world, including The Boston Globe, Detroit Free Press, Huffpost, Jet magazine, Ms., The New York Times, NBC News, Newsweek, NPR, The Washington Post, USA Today and The Intercept.

Dr. Yaba Blay

Dr. Yaba Blay is an "Independent People’s Worker" who works in service of Black liberation every day. A scholar-activist, cultural worker, ethnographer, and occasional writer, her practice centers global Black lived experiences, particularly those of Black women and girls. Her research and scholarship engage the Black body, with a particular focus on colorism and beauty politics.

Dr. Blay’s likeness and commentary are featured in A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond, a permanent installation exhibited in the National Museum of African American History and Culture; and she is the author of the bestselling, award-winning book, One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race.

In 2012, she served as a producer on CNN’s television documentary, "Who is Black in America?," and has since been named one of today’s leading Black voices by ‘The Root 100’ and Essence Magazine’s ‘Woke 100.’ She has appeared on CNN, ABC, BET, MSNBC, BBC, and NPR, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, EBONY, Essence, Fast Company, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Colorlines, and The Root, just to name a few. Lauded by O Magazine for her social media activism, she has launched several viral campaigns including ‘Locs of Love,’ #PrettyPeriod, and Professional Black Girl.

Yaba earned a Master of Arts and PhD in African American Studies (with distinction) and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from Temple University. She also holds a Master of Education in Counseling Psychology from the University of New Orleans. The former Dan Blue Endowed Chair in Political Science at North Carolina Central University, she has also taught on the faculties of Lehigh University, Lafayette College, and Drexel University, where she served as the Director of the Africana Studies program.

Gerald L. Coleman

Gerald L. Coleman is a philosopher, theologian, poet, and Science Fiction & Fantasy author. He did his undergraduate work in philosophy, english, and religious studies, followed by a master's degree in Theology. He is the author of the Epic Fantasy novel series, The Three Gifts, which currently includes, When Night Falls (Book One), A Plague of Shadows (Book Two), and the upcoming When Chaos Reigns (Book Three).

His speculative fiction has appeared in: The Cyberfunk Anthology: The City, the Roaring Lion Anthology: Rococoa, the Urban Fantasy Anthology: Terminus and Terminus 2, the 2019 JordanCon Anthology: You Want Stories?, Dark Universe: Bright Empire, Cyberfunk! by MVMedia, the JordanCon 2022 Anthology: Neither Endings Nor Beginnings, Whether Change: The Revolution Will Be Weird, and the upcoming World Fantasy Award winning Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022).

He has been a Guest Author at DragonCon, Boskone, Blacktasticon, JordanCon, Atlanta Science Fiction & Fantasy Expo, SOBSFCon, The Outer Dark Symposium, World Horror Con, Imaginarium, Multiverse, Weird Bites, NECON, and a Guest Poet/Lecturer at Berea College, University of Kentucky, Centre College (Governor’s School), Transylvania University, Western Carolina University, UNC Charlotte, Florissant College, Kenyon College, the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Center.

He is a Scholastic National Writing Juror, a Co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, an SFWA member, a Rhysling Award Nominee, and a Fellow at the Black Earth Institute. He is currently working on new editions of When Night Falls, A Plague of Shadows, and writing book three in that epic fantasy series. His newest releases include a collection of SF&F short stories entitled, From Earth and Sky, and a collection of poems and micro-essays entitled On the Black Hand Side. You can find him at Geraldcoleman.com.

Dr. Renée Alexander Craft

Dr. Alexander Craft’s research and teaching examine the relationship among sociohistorical constructions of Blackness, Black cultural performance, and discourses of Black inclusion and exclusion within a hemispheric American framework. With an intersectional approach attentive to class, colorism, nationalism, nationality, language, gender, sexuality, history, religion, and region, her research reflects an interest in the following questions: How has Blackness come to mean what it does in discrete countries of the Americas? How have African descended communities used the power of creativity and imagination to build community, preserve culture, inspire collective action in the service of soc

For over twenty years, Alexander Craft’s research and creative projects have centered on an Afro-Latin community located in the small coastal town of Portobelo, Panama who call themselves and their carnival performance tradition \"Congo.\" She has completed a manuscript, digital humanities project, and novel that reflect this focus. The first is an ethnographic monograph titled When the Devil Knocks: The Congo Tradition and the Politics of Blackness in 20th Century Panama, which was awarded the 2017 American Society of Theatre Research Errol Hill Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship in African American theatre, drama, and/or performance studies.

The second project, titled Digital Portobelo: Art + Scholarship + Cultural Preservation (digitalportobelo.org), is an interactive online collection of ethnographic interviews, photos, videos, artwork, and archival material that illuminate the rich culture and history of Portobelo, Panama. Digital Portobelo was initiated through an inaugural 2013-2014 UNC Digital Innovations Lab/Institute for the Arts and Humanities Fellowship and supported by an inaugural 2016 Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship.

The third is a novel titled The Part of Me That’s Mine, which was inspired by her Portobelo-based research as well as her experiences growing up in a Black funeral home family in North Carolina. The Part of Me That’s Mine is represented by Beth Marshea, owner and lead agent of The Ladderbird Literary Agency.

In addition to these Portobelo-centered projects, Alexander Craft co-edited The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance with Kathy A. Perkins, Sandra L. Richards, and Thomas F. DeFrantz. She is currently working on an edited manuscript and digital humanities project titled "Patacones, Paint Brushes, and Power: Historicizing an African Diaspora Arts Collective at the Crossroads of the Americas."

Jessica Cage

Violette L. Meier

Violette Meier is a happily married mother, writer, folk artist, poet, and native of Atlanta, Georgia, who earned her B.A. in English at Clark Atlanta University and a Masters of Divinity at Interdenominational Theological Center. Writing since her preteen years, she has written over 1,200 poems, 40 short stories, and 14 books.

The great-granddaughter of a dream interpreter, Violette is a lover of all things supernatural and loves to write paranormal, fantasy, and horror. She is always working on something new.

Her books include: With All My Being, Oracles, The First Chronicle of Zayashariya: Out of Night, Angel Crush, Son of the Rock, Archfiend, Ruah the Immortal, Tales of a Numinous Nature: A Short Story Collection, Hags, Haints & Hoodoo: A Supernatural Short Story Collection, Loving and Living Life, Violette Ardor: A Volume of Poetry, and This Sickness We Call Love: Poems of Love, Lust, and Lamentation.

Milton J. Davis

Milton J. Davis is Black Speculative fiction writer and owner of MVmedia, LLC, a small publishing company specializing in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Sword and Soul.

MVmedia’s mission is to provide speculative fiction books that represent people of color in a positive manner. Davis is the author of twenty-one novels and short story collections; his most recent is the Sword and Soul adventure Eda Blessed II.

He is also a contributing author to Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda, published by Marvel and Titan Books and is a co-author of Hadithi and the State of Black Speculative Fiction with Eugen Bacon.

Davis is the editor and co-editor of eleven anthologies; Spyfunk!; Terminus: Tales of the Black Fantastic from the ATL; Cyberfunk!; The City, Dark Universe and Dark Universe: The Bright Empire with Gene Peterson; Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griot: Sisters of the Spear, with Charles R. Saunders; The Ki Khanga Anthology, Steamfunk!, and Dieselfunk! with Balogun Ojetade.

His work had also been featured in Black Power: The Superhero Anthology and Rococoa published by Roaring Lions Productions; Skelos 2: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy, Steampunk Writers Around the World published by Luna Press; Heroika: Dragoneaters published by First Perseid Press, Bass Reeves Frontier Marshal Volume Two, and Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire.

Davis and Balogun Ojetade won the 2014 Urban Action Showcase Award for Best Script for their screenplay, Ngolo. His story ‘The Swarm’ was nominated for the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction and, Carnival, was nominated for the 2020 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction.

Sheree Renée Thomas

Sheree Renée Thomas is an award-winning fiction writer, poet, and editor. Her work is inspired by myth and folklore, natural science and Mississippi Delta conjure. Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future (2020) is her first all prose collection. She is the author of the Marvel novel adaptation of the legendary comics, Black Panther: Panther's Rage (2022). She is also the author of two multigenre/hybrid collections, Sleeping Under the Tree of Life (2016), longlisted for the 2016 Otherwise Award and honored with a Publishers Weekly Starred Review, and Shotgun Lullabies (2011).

She edited the World Fantasy-winning groundbreaking black speculative fiction anthologies, Dark Matter (2000 and 2004) and is the first to introduce W.E.B. Du Bois's science fiction short stories. Her work is widely anthologized and appears in The Big Book of Modern Fantasy edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (Vintage, 2020). She is the Associate Editor of the historic Black arts literary journal, Obsidian: Literature & the Arts in the African Diaspora, founded in 1975 and is the Editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, founded in 1949. She also writes book reviews for Asimov's.

She was honored as a 2020 World Fantasy Award Finalist in the Special Award – Professional category for contributions to the genre and was a Co-Host of the 2021 Hugo Awards Ceremony at Discon III in Washington, DC with Malka Older. She is a Marvel writer and contributor to the groundbreaking anthology, Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda edited by Jesse J. Holland. She lives in her hometown, Memphis, Tennessee near a mighty river and a pyramid.

Connie Morrison

Connie Schofield-Morrison is a mother, author and entrepreneur who spent the bulk of her childhood reading and writing poetry, songs and fairy tales.

Collaborating with her husband, award-winning illustrator Frank Morrison, Connie Schofield-Morrison’s vibrant writing captures the sounds, rhythms and motions of the world around us.

Her first two books, \"I Got the Rhythm\" and \"I Got the Christmas Spirit,\" are joyful, feel-good reads that will get kids in the mood to move. \"I Got the School Spirit\" (Bloomsbury) is her newest book that inspires kids with big sounds, bright colors and a driving beat.

William Johnson

William Johnson is the Director of National Outreach and Engagement at PEN America. A longtime steward in the writing community, Johnson was the editor and publisher of Mary Literary, a literary magazine committed to showcasing work of artistic integrity. He also co-produced Nepantla: A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color, the first major anthology for queer poets of color in the United States. In 2011, Johnson began his tenure at Lambda Literary, an organization dedicated to promoting LGBTQ literature. As the deputy director of Lambda Literary, Johnson oversaw many of the organization’s most dynamic programs and public events, including the Writer’s Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices and Lambda’s web magazine, the Lambda Literary Review.

In 2021, Johnson was awarded The Publishing Triangle’s Leadership Award, an award recognizing contributions to LGBTQ literature by those who are not primarily writers, such as editors, agents, librarians, and institutions.

Chris Bruce

Christopher E. Bruce, Esq., is the Policy Director for the ACLU of Georgia. Bruce has been a leader in the fight for civil rights and liberties across the state and country. He led a campaign against suppressing the Black vote in South Atlanta by preventing the closure of polling locations in majority-black districts during the 2016 Mayoral election. In his first year as a lobbyist with the ACLU of Georgia, Chris defeated a bill that added sentencing enhancements purposefully targeting Black Lives Matter protesters. In that same year, he led a coalition to defeat legislation that would have labeled protesters as domestic terrorists. Bruce has also led a coalition of civil rights leaders and organizations that defeated legislation that would have jeopardized early voting hours and eliminated Sunday voting or “Souls to the Polls” programs.

Bruce graduated Cum Laude from Georgia State University and obtained his law degree from the University of Georgia. Bruce has also held positions of influence outside of the ACLU of Georgia including being on the Policy Executive Board of the Atlanta Pre-Arrest Diversion Program, Executive Board for Gate City Bar Association which is one of the oldest black bar associations in the United States, Atlanta Council for Younger Lawyers, and New Leaders Council.

Bruce is a member of the LEAD Atlanta 2016 class and a recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Atlanta Award, the highest award that can be bestowed to a young professional in Atlanta. He has been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio and been a guest lecturer at many universities including Harvard Law School, University of Georgia School of Law, and Emory University.

Dr. Ni'cola Mitchell

Dr. Ni'cola Mitchell is an award-winning entrepreneur, Executive Producer for Lifetime Movie Network, published writer, and youth leader. While working to make the world a better place, she founded Girls Who Brunch Tour, a nonprofit organization that was designed to cultivate, inspire, and empower girls worldwide between the ages of 9-17 years old.

H.D. Hunter

Hugh \"H.D.\" Hunter is a storyteller, teaching artist, and community organizer from Atlanta. He’s also the winner of several indie book awards for multicultural fiction. Hugh is committed to stories about Black kids and their many expansive worlds. He loves vegan snacks, basketball, and stories that make you cry—but make you smile afterward.

Shanna Miles

Shanna Miles attended the University of South Carolina where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. With a passion for reading, she continued on to Georgia State University where she earned a master’s degree in library media. When she’s not writing about Southern girls in love, in trouble, or in space, she’s sharing books with teens as a high school librarian or reading stories to her two young daughters. 

Aries ALXNDR

Born and bred in the A, Aries ALXNDR (they/he) is the father of the House of ALXNDR. Since 2019 Aries has been making waves with his pop-punk sensibilities and joy in making spaces for drag king visibility. You can find him locally hosting his all-ages, family-friendly drag show Cabbage Patch quarterly at Charis Books and More in Decatur.

Lyte Imaginari

Join Lyte Imaginari for family friendly story telling during the Cabbage Patch Drag Story Hour!

Tucker Aye Alxndr

Known as Atlanta’s favorite black, Asian, trans masc drag king, Tucker Aye Alxndr is Alabama raised, but Atlanta grown! Known for serving camp and the occasional split. They are the current reigning Mx. Mugcheck 2023 and the newest member of the House of ALXNDR. Join them for family friendly story telling during the Cabbage Patch Drag Story Hour!

Hotep

Education Success Strategist and Congressional award-winning author, Hotep is widely known for his proactive, \"tough love\" approach to education. He is a 15-year Master Teacher who has developed a reputation for requesting the most troubled students and transforming them into willing participants in their education.

Hotep is the founder of Hustle University and creator of the MAKE A WAY program, a series of high-relevance programs that are used in over 1000 schools throughout the U.S. His profound work has earned him nominations for the Presidential Citizens Award and as a CNN Hero.

Hotep is also the creator of the revolutionary Outcome Progression Model, which he uses to transform the climate and culture of poverty, excuse-making and helplessness into one of empowerment, resiliency and success!

Shavawn P. Simmons

Shavawn P. Simmons is the Founder and Executive Director of Family Literacy of Georgia, Inc.. Simmons founded Family Literacy of Georgia to increase enthusiasm for reading within communities lacking easy access to books and book diversity. An avid reader, writer, and artist, Simmons is a retired 30-year public school educator. A native of Miami, (Opa-Locka) Florida, Simmons directs Family Literacy of Georgia from metro Atlanta in Clayton County, Georgia.

Formerly a Literacy Coach and Assistant Principal, Simmons continues her servant leadership by utilizing her corporate experiences to benefit the community. Ms. Simmons obtained her Bachelor's degree from Fisk University in Business Management and completed her Masters in Advertising at Northwestern’s School of Medill in Evanston, IL. She also holds an Educational Specialist degree from Mercer University with an Education Leadership certification from Florida Atlantic University.

Fueled by her passion for literacy and advocacy for adolescent youth, Simmons strives to help families create safe spaces for children to embrace their differences while promoting life-long reading experiences through Family Literacy of Georgia. Family Literacy of Georgia’s partnership with Little Free Library’s Read in Color initiative has helped provide communities throughout Georgia with accessibility to free diverse books. 

Satchel Jester

A student of social studies, Satchel B. Jester knows the importance of live interaction, experiential experiences, and effective lasting impressions, and has lent his discerning taste to crafting and creating for Starbucks, NIKE, Lincoln Motor Co., BET, MTV, BRAVO, Whitney Houston, Outkast, and the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Additionally, Jester has served as a product ambassador for FORD, Universal Pictures, McDonald’s, Verizon Wireless, and Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

A media maven, Jester has contributed to Ebony, Essence, Black Enterprise, and Vibe, and is the current Executive Editor at Upscale magazine and Deputy Editor-At-Large at UPTOWN Magazine. A multi-faceted \"picture painter\", he is one of the most sought-after lifestyle journalists in the industry and has appeared on CNN, HLN, Sirius XM, and Interactive One.  In 2016, Jester’s platform Scene by Satchel, a monthly print and online account of his social engagement and cultural footprint, received a proclamation of excellence from Mayor Kasim Reed and the City of Atlanta for its specially curated content and editorial influence.

When not in Superman mode, the aspiring filmmaker sings, travels, cocktails, and creates, amid preparations to release a web series and the first in a collection of coffee table books under the \"Scene by Satchel\" impression.

Tim’m West

Tim’m is an educator, youth advocate, poet, hip-hop artist, and author of several books. Tim’m has been a DEI Experiences Facilitator with The Center since 2020, and came onboard as Executive Director of the LGBTQ Institute in early 2023.  As Executive Director of The Center’s LGBTQ Institute, Tim’m is focused on the mission of advancing LGBTQ equity in America through research and education.  Prior to joining The Center, Tim’m led Teach for America’s national LGBTQ+ Community Initiative, advancing safer and braver classrooms for LGBTQ educators and students preK-12. He was previously Director of Youth Services at Chicago’s Center on Halsted, served on the inaugural faculty at Oakland School for the Arts, taught English and coached basketball at Cesar Chavez Public High School for Public Policy. He has a B.A. from Duke, and M.A.s from The New School for Social Research and Stanford University. 

Mickaela Bradford

Mickaela comes from Southern Baptists pastors, Army vets, real estate brokers, and the 1st “free” Black welders in Southwest, Georgia. From these experiences, she has emerged a leading strategist and budding artist in social justice movements for over a decade.

In 2015, they co-founded Southern Fried Queer Pride, a nonprofit for LGBTQ artists of color. Currently, she is “Co-director of Policy and Programs” at Transgender Law Center, where she co-wrote the “Trans Agenda For Liberation” policy platform. Her debut film “ Under False Colors” harnesses the spirit of Black trans community organizing in a hybrid, narrative-documentary short, produced by Comfrey Films

Rose Scott

Rose Scott is an award-winning journalist and host of the midday news program \"Closer Look\" heard on Atlanta’s NPR, station 90.1 FM – WABE.

In her role as a co-host and now host, Rose has interviewed foreign heads of states, cabinet members, U.S. ambassadors, numerous consul generals, state and local elected officials as well as civic and social leaders. Closer Look has become a signature broadcast for the community and brings together viewpoints from all sectors of society.

She leads the \"Closer Look\" team in presenting discussions centered on affordable housing, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, immigration and criminal justice reform.

With more than two decades of reporting in Atlanta, Rose has covered education, minority health issues, Atlanta historically Black colleges and universities, gender issues, and sports.

Well respected in the Atlanta community for her thought-provoking reporting style, Scott has been honored with several awards including a Southeast Regional Emmy Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, Atlanta Association of Black Journalists Award and numerous Georgia Association of Broadcaster awards. She has also received awards from the Georgia Associated Press and is a Girls Inc. Strong, Smart & Bold Award Winner.

Rose often speaks to youth groups, mentors journalism students, and volunteers with youth empowerment initiatives.

Opal Moore

Opal Moore is an African-American poet, short-story author, and former in the Department of English at Spelman College, Atlanta, where she taught creative writing, fiction writing workshops, and courses in contemporary African American literature. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in journals and anthologies, including Callaloo, African American Review, and Honey, Hush! An Anthology of African American Women's Humor, edited by Daryl Cumber Dance.

Her other interests include the representations of ethnicities in children's and young adult literature; she has published several articles on this subject in journals and collections, including The Black American in Books for Children, The Role of Illustration in Multicultural Literature for Youth (1997) and The Maya Angelou "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Casebook (forthcoming, Oxford UP, 1998).

Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper

An internationally recognized Langston Hughes scholar, Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper taught English at Spelman College from 1987 to 2020. She is now Professor Emerita.

Nationally, she served as President of the College Language Association from 2018 to 2020, and she was a founding member and past president of the Langston Hughes Society. She is currently on the editorial. board of The Langston Hughes Review.

Akiba Harper is the author of the only book-length study examining Hughes’s celebrated Jesse B. Semple stories, Not So Simple: The “Simple” Stories by Langston Hughes (1995). She has also edited four volumes of short fiction by Hughes. She has lectured in China, Turkey, and throughout the United States on Langston Hughes and is the author of numerous articles and book reviews.

From 1998 to 2020 she was the campus coordinator for the UNCF-Mellon Program at Spelman College, part of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, helping to identify and encourage students to pursue the Ph.D. and teach at the college level. She currently serves on the Advisory Board for UNCF-Mellon.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College, Akiba Harper earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from Emory University as a Danforth Graduate Fellow.

Her awards and recognition include the first Langston Hughes Society Legacy Award (2019), in recognition of years as President and service as a founder of the organization; the Faculty Award in African American Literature (1999), in recognition of exemplary scholarship and dedication to excellence at Spelman College;The Langston Hughes Prize for Excellence in Literature and Vision (1998); the Spelman College 1995 Presidential Faculty Award for Scholarly Achievement; and the 1991 Distinguished Teacher Award, funded by the Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award Program.

Carolyn Denard, Ph.D

Carolyn Denard received her BA in English from Jackson State University, her MAT in English from Indiana University, and her PhD in American Studies from Emory University, where she focused on twentieth century American literature and cultural history and where she completed a doctoral dissertation on Toni Morrison. She has received post-doctoral research fellowships from the American Association of University Women, the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and the Women�s Studies Program at Emory University.

As founder of the Toni Morrison Society, Dr. Denard extended the invitation and led the efforts to establish the Society as an official author society of the American Literature Association in May 1993. Since the Society’s founding, she has served as the Society’s first president and as the Society’s Board Chair, a position she has held since 1996. As Board Chair of the Toni Morrison Society, Dr. Denard has had oversight of Society’s operations, fundraising initiative and financial reporting; co-directed six interdisciplinary Biennial Conferences in the U.S. and abroad; launched and managed the Bench by the Road Project and the Toni Morrison Society Lecture Series; served as Co-project Director for the NEH-funded Language Matters Teaching Institutes; and provided leadership for a 17-member board of directors, consisting of leaders in the academic, arts, business, and lay communities.

Charles Stephens

Named as one of Out Georgia’s most influential LGBTQ+ Georgians, Charles Stephens spent a decade as a nonprofit leader and consultant. Stephens found his calling leading social impact-driven narrative shift organizations, as the Founder and Executive Director of the Counter Narrative Project (CNP). Through his role at CNP, he has been able to merge his passion for social justice and his passion for storytelling by supporting emerging advocates, cultural workers, and the creation of original content. Under his leadership, CNP has become a widely recognized national leader in narrative change, racial justice, and HIV advocacy. 

Stephen’s experience spans narrative shift, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, public health programming, community education, and advocacy.  His work has been profiled in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Atlanta Voice, Georgia Voice, and Project Q. Before founding CNP, Stephens organized the historic \"Whose Beloved Community: Black Civil and LGBT Rights'' conference at Emory University. He is also the co-editor of Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam’s Call, an anthology of writings about Black gay writer and visionary Joseph Beam. Stephens has also been an independent consultant to many national social impact organizations, an advisory board member of the Alliance Theatre and Historic Atlanta, and most recently selected by the Atlanta Regional Commission to participate in the Arts Leaders of Metropolitan Atlanta (ALMA) program.  His other professional and creative interests include creative writing, studying Black LGBTQ+ history, and researching all things Atlanta. Stephens received his B.A. degree from Georgia State University where he received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award.

Derek Harper

Derek Harper is the Operations Manager for Radio One Atlanta, and Inspiration Format Director for WAMJ /WUMJ/WPZE /WHAT.  Harper started as the Morning Show Producer for WVEE/V-103 in Atlanta. He moved to Macon as the Operation Manager/Program Director at RCI Communications for 4 years and then returned to Atlanta as the Assistant Program Director for WAMJ.

In 2005, He was named Program Director for WPZE and WAMJ and took over the Inspiration Format in 2018.