IBWALA

The Clarion Writer's 2011 Workshop June 26 – August 6, 2011 at UC San Diego featuring 2011 Writers in Residence Nina Kiriki Hoffman, John Scalzi, Elizabeth Bear, David Anthony Durham, John Kessel and Kij Johnson.  Application period begins December 1, 2010.

Clarion is widely recognized as a premier training ground for aspiring writers of fantasy and science fiction short stories. The 2011 writers in residence are Nina Kiriki Hoffman, John Scalzi, Elizabeth Bear, David Anthony Durham, John Kessel and Kij Johnson. Each year 18 students, ranging in age from late teens to those in mid-career, are selected from applicants who have the potential for highly successful writing careers. Students are expected to write several new short stories during the six-week workshop, and to give and receive constructive criticism. Instructors and students reside together in UCSD campus apartments throughout the intensive six-week program. Application period: December 1 – March 1. Applicants must submit two short stories with their application.
Workshop: June 26 – August 6, 2011. http://clarion.ucsd.edu

IBWALA member Mildred Dumás, in partnership with the Palmdale Woman's Club, presents, "A Gathering of First Ladies," an historical drama written, directed and produced by actress and playwright Mildred Dumás. The inaugural performance will delight and disturb theater goers March 13, 2010 at the new, state-of-the art Knight High School Theater in Palmdale, CA, with a matinee performance at 2 PM and an evening performance at 7:00 PM.

In the stage play, First Lady Michelle Obama has invited 10 other 'first' ladies to the White House for tea.  Each of these women were the first in history to achieve or to be successful at some great feat recorded in history.  It is a known fact that Mrs. Obama has read the biographies of these great women, thus as guests in the Red Room, she demonstrates her knowledge of the various details and facts about their trials, tribulations and triumphs as each of them recount their stories and share the details of extraordinary lives.

Great for the entire family to learn African-American and women's history through song, costume and set design,  and storytelling.

For more information, visit www.mildreddumasonstage.com or click here to purchase tickets.  General admission: $18; Students/seniors: $15; Groups of 10 or more: $12.

An excerpt from 2005 CASP student L A Hughes' Mz Akins People, a memoir, recently garnered a first place blue ribbon from the San Gabriel District Woman's Clubs annual creative arts competition.  On reading the short chapter at a club meeting, Hughes reports hardly a dry eye in the room as the story of her great-grandmother Nancy Akins' sojourn to California's San Joaquin Valley with her children and grandchildren in tow unfolded. 

Some say Hughes' work is reminescent of John Steinbeck's tales of poor sharecroppers-turned migrant-workers from Oklahoma's dust bowl to find a better life in central California.  Ms. Akins and her people came similarly to continue their crafts around working the fields of cotton, watermelons and grapes in California's big valley, but to build a homestead and to settle. The short entry covers Akins' arrival in 1942 to around 1958 when the author was 10.

Hughes, a member of IBWALA for the past 31 years and a member of the Palmdale Woman's Club for two, was urged to submit the piece to the 52-year-old local group's creative arts competition and was notified of the win in March. 

"I am encouraged to continue writing the memoir, maybe even get it published,"  Hughes said.  She says she began writing the series of "snapshots of memory" four years ago in a Palmdale Playhouse writers roundtable after her UCLA Extension sci-fi workshop piece was rejected by the new group.  "I was told, 'Write about what you know.'"  The latest group she helped form has given her the title and subject for another chapter in the Mz Akins saga, "Junior's Ashes." 

L A Hughes can be contacted at lahughes48@aol.com.

Marcus Love, IBWALA board member and author has published his third book "Rising Tales, Vol. 1," a collection of erotic novellas scheduled for a June 12, 2009 release. For more information, log onto www.marcuslove.com.

An invitation to writers and artists to be guests on a cable access family friendly show Literary Speak airs on PCAC Channel 56; show times are Tuesdays at 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and provides a forum for readers, writers and artists to connect and promote the love of reading, writing, literacy and the arts. LS has a viewership of about 40,000 in the Pasadena-Altadena
area in addition to an online audience. Writers and artists can reach this wide audience via the 30-minute program which tapes once per month, on a Saturday,
either between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m or 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Interested persons may contact producer C Debra Thomas at wisdom@onetelling.com or One Telling
Publications, P.O. Box 1202, South Pasadena,
CA 91031.

     This is an exciting outgrowth project from
IBWALA's Sunday Salon Series. The CD is a compilation of spoken word artistry, interspersed with music and dialogue that occurred at the Sunday Salon back in December 2006 on the certain popularly used racial epithet. The CD addresses the issue through a number of spoken word pieces and original music interspersed with actual comments from the Salon itself. 

     In a recent edition of Black Expressions VP Earl Wooten talked about crafting our Hot New CD:
     It was a great honor for me to utilize my recording studio to pull together the N-Word CD. It was a great project, as I got to work with some exceptionally bright and talented members of IBWALA.  It is rich because it is authentic. I believe that I have selected musical ideas that complement the tone and style of each spoken artist’s work, starting with Donald Bakeer’s : The "N Word” publication which basically decries the ghetto life that continues to breathe life into and give wings to the N-word.  His work is paired with a heavy rap beat, hard and lacking in melodic structure. I chose it because I feel it emphasizes the lack of song and melody that pervades the life of people who live in the world painted by Bakeer.

click here to order a copy now!

   Conversely, for the poetry of Ron Covington and
Kathleen Shaw, I chose music that has a strong sense of groove and rhythm, music that might make you want to dance or at least pat your feet. Kathleen’s work is soulful and rich and Ron’s insightful and playful.

     C. Jerome Woods delivers a powerful piece entitled “Ask and Answered” which reaches deep to the roots of our African ancestry. Supporting Jerome is the African tribal beat of drums, which begin with hands on the congas in a fast roll and eventually explodes at the ending climax of the piece. Wayne’s comments from the Sunday Salon about Richard Pryor’s illuminating moment to decide to stop using the N-word is followed by both him and his wife Donna delivering a whimsical piece which is introduced like a magical recitation.
     Excell Hunter’s work is rich with imagery, much of
which is dark and sullen. Accompanying him throughout his oration is a piece which I wrote and recorded with violinist Chris Grice who is also a member of IBWALA, a clarinetist, oboist, and bass violinist. The music is complex and dissonant at times, punctuating the dissonance of Excel’s depiction of the African- American experience.
     The CD is rounded off with a final piece by Donald
Bakeer which gives a warning to the listener about
using N-word.  For me, pulling together the commentary  from the Salon, working with and recording the artists, and creating music to marry to each artists work was a joy. I hope you will enjoy listening to the finished product as much as I enjoyed crafting it together for you.

click here to order a copy now!

By DeLois Jacobs 

IBWALA's Sunday literary salon at Lucy Florence Gallery in Leimert Park Village featured live performance highlights of the group's latest effort, a CD entitled "The N Word," which even inspired an impromptu reading of a work in progress.  Afterwards, an animated Q&A revealed divirgent opinion about the meaning of the word, i.e., is it a condition or a behavior? Judge for yourself. Scroll below to find out more about the CD or click here to purchase your copy now!.