North Country Institute and Retreat for Writers of Color to Hold Public Book Reading and Signing

The reading and book signing will feature several noted authors including Martin Espada, Patrice Gaines and Sandra Jackson-Opoku.

Espada, a nationally-renowned poet, is the author of seven collections of poetry including Imagine the Angels of Bread , winner of an American Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Gaines, a non-fiction and memoir writer, is an award-winning journalist, motivational speaker, activist and author. She has written several books including Laughing in the Dark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color - A Journey from Prison to Power and Moments of Grace, Meeting the Challenge of Change .

Award-winning novelist and poet Jackson-Opoku is the author of five books including The River Where Blood is Born and Hot Johhny (And the Women Who Loved Him) .

This event is made possible by a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Winkel Humanities Fund and is sponsored by the North Country Institute for Writers of Color, the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College in collaboration with the English Department at SUNY Plattsburgh, the Paden Institute and Retreat for Writers of Color and the North Adirondack Writing Center.

The program is part of the activities scheduled in association with the Institute's Summer Retreat that will be held June 19 - 25 at the Valcour Educational Conference Center. The purpose of the retreat is to provide a writing community in the North Country where established and emerging writers of color can focus on their writing and create cross-cultural conversations around the literatures of people of color.

For more information, contact Dr. Jose Torres-Padilla, associate professor of English at SUNY Plattsburgh and the co-director of the Institute for Writers of Color, at 518-564-2413.

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