Media Contact:
Felicia Horton
(773) 821-4976
f-horton@csu.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gwendolyn Brooks Center Hosts Hip-Hop Writers Workshops This Weekend
CHICAGO--(NOVEMBER 10, 2008) Acclaimed author Kevin Coval, whose work has been featured in four seasons of HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam,” will lead a two-day writing workshop for Chicago area high school and college students on Saturday, November 15 and Sunday, November 16, 2008 at Chicago State University. The series, “Working Writers: Poetry and Fiction from A to Z,” is hosted by the Gwendolyn Brooks Center.
“Kevin is one of the finest writers of his generation. It is a gift that he is also a fine person committed to the power of writing and ideas to transform minds and lives,” said Quraysh Ali Lansana, director of the Brooks Center. Lansana feels that Coval’s work “resonates with literary awareness, spiritual consciousness and urban grit, making him perhaps one of the nation's most refreshing voices in his genre.”
Coval published his second book, Everyday People (EM Press), in July 2008. His first book, Slingshots, was an American Library Association “Book of the Year” finalist. Coval is a regular contributor to Chicago Public Radio and is the co-founder of the Chicago teen poetry festival, “Louder Than A Bomb.”
“Coval’s philosophy resembles Brooks’ in that he uses poetry to increase understanding about Black culture in America,” said Lansana.
The Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University was founded in 1990 by Chicago State University Distinguished Professor Haki R. Madhubuti who was inspired by the life and works of the late Distinguished CSU Professor Gwendolyn Brooks, poet laureate of Illinois and the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize.
The mission of the Brooks Center is to encourage the study of black writers and strengthen the humanities—especially literature, history, art, music, culture and health awareness—by engaging in collaborative and interactive programming.
“The Brooks Center is committed to providing options and opportunities, such as this workshop, particularly for young people within the community, something Brooks felt strongly about,” Lansana explained.
During the past 18 years, the Center has inducted numerous Illinois artists into its International Literary Hall of Fame, including Martin Espada, Bennett Johnson, Sam Greenlee, Bebe Moore Campbell, Dr. Barbara A. Sizemore, Patricia Smith and the recently deceased Studs Terkel.
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ABOUT CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY
Chicago State University was founded as a teacher training school in Blue Island, Illinois on September 2, 1867. Today, the university is a fully accredited public, urban institution located on 161-picturesque acres in a residential community on Chicago’s Southside. CSU is governed by a Board of Trustees appointed by the Governor of Illinois. The university’s five colleges—Health Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, and Pharmacy—offer 36 undergraduate and 25 graduate and professional degree-granting programs. CSU also offers an interdisciplinary Honors College for students in all areas of study and has a Division of Continuing Education and Non-Traditional Programs that offers extension courses, distance learning and not-for-credit programs to the entire Chicago community.