Hurston & Hughes Literary Circle 2017

We are so excited to read together this year.

Frederick Douglass wrote, “When you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Our middle and high school participants are in the phase of life where they are reading to learn about the world and the impact they will make. This is especially important this year, after the November 2016 and January 2017 events that changed America for the worse.

What part has happened before?

The Epic of Gilgamesh is time immemorial and while we are not reading it this year, it is a reminder that people have been in this uncertain place before, where political power and intrigue rules the day and when those who were put in place to govern fairly have instead sold out the people for their greed.

This summer, the teens will gather in local coffee shops, bookstores, and libraries to delve into the nuanced messages from writings by Frances E.W Harper, William Wells Brown, Langston Hughes, Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, and Chinua Achebe.

We meet every Tuesday from 4-6pm, June 6-July 25, 2017.

There is a nominal registration fee, $25.

T-shirts are $15 and we hope every participant wants one!

The books we will read are easily accessible at bookstores or libraries:

Kindred by Octavia Butler, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe – high school selections

BrownGirl, Brown Stones by Paule Marshall, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson,  by Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman – middle school selections

We incorporate required readings from the area high schools and have a day for the teens to write those essays for school. Some of those titles are:

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Black Boy and Native Son by Richard Wright

Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehsi Coates

We accept any rising 6th to 12th grader who is interested in reading and discussing literary works with other Afrodiasporan teens primarily in the West, South, and Central County areas in the St. Louis metropolitan area. We do not turn anyone away, however, due to need, centered our location and planning on the unmet needs of students attending middle and high school in the Kirkwood, Ladue, Parkway, Pattonville, Lindbergh, and Clayton school district areas.

Contact the Director for information!

tayefosterbradshaw@outlook.com. Antona Brent Smith, Director

readwritethinkconnect@gmail.com