2020 Virtual Festival Recap
For the first time in its 14 year history the Austin African American Book Festival was a virtual event. The festival theme “We Wear the Mask: Surviving Oppression in the 21st Century” proved to be very timely as the country realizes how its history led to the current state of inequities and discontent. The festival’s relevance may have been the reason that nearly all of the tickets for the virtual event, 500 per session, were claimed.
Dr. Damon Tweedy in conversation with festival organizer Rosalind Oliphant Jones discussed how biases impact both the availability and quality of medical care. Many of Tweedy's own experiences were detailed in his best selling book Black Man in a White Coat.
Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson discussed her master work The Warmth of Other Suns. The book appeared on more than 30 best seller lists when it was first published in 2011 and has again risen to prominence since the death of George Floyd. The book follows the journeys of three people and their families as they migrate from the Jim Crow south to California, Illinois and New York in search of better opportunity and greater freedom.
Festival favorite Dr. Mark Cunningham led a lively discussion on the literary influences and legacy of Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose birthday coincided with this year’s festival. The festival theme was taken from the title of one of Dunbar’s most famous poems.
The festival concluded with a writing workshop in which participants learned to tell stories of how COVID-19 impacted their lives. Librarian and archivist, kYmberly Keeton led the workshop. Keeton started the Black Covid-19 Index, an independent archival project to gather stories, images, audio and video of African Americans as they deal with the coronavirus. Participants are invited to submit their work to the repository and for possible publication.
On Call with Dr. Tweedy!
Dr. Damon Tweedy, author of the best-selling "Black Man in a White Coat," discussing how biases impact both the availability and quality of medical care with festival organizer Rosalind Oliphant Jones.
The Voice of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Dr. Mark Cunningham examines the literary influences and legacy of Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose birthday coincided with the 2020 festival. The event theme “We Wear The Mask” was taken from the title of one of Dunbar’s most famous poems.
Valuing and Preserving Our Voices
Librarian and archivist, kYmberly Keeton leads a creative writing workshop on how to tell and archive stories during COVID-19 for generations to come.
The Great Migration
Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author of "The Warmth of Other Suns" discussed the resurgence of interest in her book written almost 10 years ago. Wilkerson's new work, "Caste: The Origins of our Discontents" is due out August 2020. Video unavailable for replay.
SPONSORS
