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Tag: Arts & Culture Feature

  • Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Celebrate 2025 Winners and 90 Years of Excellence During Cleveland Book Fest

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    The 2025 winners

    The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA), the only national juried prize for literature that addresses racism and diversity, proudly marks its 90th anniversary with a citywide celebration September 19–20, 2025. The anniversary weekend will bring award-winning authors to Cleveland for a series of thought-provoking conversations and readings that honor nine decades of Anisfield-Wolf awardees—writers who shaped our understanding of race, culture, and identity. Please join us for the annual ceremony taking place on September 19th at 6:30 pm at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. Tickets go live on September 2. To learn more about the books, hear directly why the jury selected the AWBA Class of 2025.

    AWBA 2025 – Fiction: Colored Television, Danzy Senna
    “…a master class in satire and the constant wrangling our humanity requires of us. Senna delivers incisive commentary on race, artmaking, parenting, marriage, and Hollywood through the lens of her middle-aged novelist protagonist, Jane. We cringe, we laugh, and we relate, but most of all, we marvel at Senna’s imagination and brilliance.” – Deesha Philyaw, Juror

    Join Danzy Senna and Deesha Philyaw on September 20th at Bopstop from 1:00 to 1:45 pm for a lively conversation about how narrative driven fiction infused with humor can challenge the way we see ourselves and the world around us.

    AWBA 2025 – Memoir: Feeding Ghosts, Tessa Hulls
    “…a compendious multi-generational epic combining a sweeping history of twentieth century China with an intimate, extraordinary family story. Feeding Ghosts crosses oceans, continents and decades to make whole a family, restore a home and as readers we are privileged to join a journey told in such richly expressive images and vivid prose.” –Peter Ho Davies, Juror

    Join us at 2:00pm on September 20th at Transformer Station for an afternoon of storytelling, art, and conversation with groundbreaking creators: Maxine Hong Kingston, a foundational voice in American literature, and Tessa Hulls, artist and author of Feeding Ghosts, the first-ever graphic memoir to win an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award—and the inaugural winner in the memoir category.

    AWBA 2025 – Nonfiction: The United States Governed By Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography by John Swanson Jacobs, edited by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder
    “…a stunning achievement of autobiographical writing, political commentary, historical sleuthing, and critical interpretation. The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots brilliantly speaks to pressing themes in our own time – tyranny, despotism, the abuse of political power, migration, statelessness, race, and radicalism.”  -Tiya Miles and Charles King, Jurors

    Join Jonathan D. S. Schroeder and the Karamu House Ensemble on September 20th at St. John’s Episcopal Church from 3:00 to 3:45 pm where actors will perform dramatic readings from the 1855 slave narrative of John Swanson Jacobs.

    AWBA 2025 – Poetry: Yard Show, Janice N. Harrington
    “At the heart of Janice N. Harrington’s monumental collection is the yard show: an African American vernacular aesthetic practice of cultivating and decorating outdoor space, making use of reclaimed and repurposed objects. In the precise language and meticulous details of Harrington’s Yard Show, the aesthetics of a black woman are centered, creating a particular Eden—her wild, original, unfettered making—another way of seeing, another kind of beauty.” –Natasha Trethewey, Jury Chair

    Join Janice N. Harrington at Ohio City Farm from 4:00 to 4:45 pm for a live poetry reading exploring themes of belonging, nature, and placemaking.

    AWBA 2025 – Lifetime Achievement: Yusef Komunyakaa
    “Yusef Komunyakaa’s contributions over half a century have not only shaped the literary landscape but have altered how we view the world. On the page, Komunyakaa holds ‘confrontation and celebration’ with open palms, staring resolutely at American history with adept precision, restraint, and stunning tonal variation. The result is a rich career of insistent inquiry.” –Natasha Trethewey, Jury Chair

    Known for his lyrical explorations of war, memory, and race, Komunyakaa has shaped contemporary poetry with a voice that is both unflinching and deeply evocative. While Yusef Komunyakaa is unable to join us in-person, we will be honoring his poetic legacy during the evening’s program. John Murillo and Nicole Sealey, critically acclaimed poets and co-editors of Dear Yusef, will travel to Cleveland to accept the award on Yusef Komunyakaa’s behalf.

    The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are a proud part of Cleveland Book Fest. To learn more about Cleveland Book Fest, visit ClevelandBookFest.com.

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  • In Conversation With Organizers of the Great Lakes African American Writers Conference

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    Dr. Leah Lewis, J.D.

    The Great Lakes African American Writers Conference (GLAAWC) is the African American literary event of the year! As we gear up for this year’s event, Cleveland Book Fest partners sat down with GLAAWC founder Dr. Leah Lewis, the new Producer Nicole D. Miller, and 2025 host Nikki B to talk about what’s ahead. Keep reading as we count down to GLAAWC 2025!

    Why is GLAAWC’s mission important in the current political and cultural climate?

    Dr. Leah Lewis, Founder & Executive Producer of GLAAWC (LL): GLAAWC remains a celebration of African American literature in all its constructive forms for the benefit and appreciation of all.

    Nicole D. Miller, Producer of GLAAWC (NDM): The Black community has and is being challenged by systemic racism, but those challenges have forged us into a resilient people group. GLAAWC is a key space that demonstrates a main way we have risen above those challenges through our gift of creativity.

    Nikki B, GLAAWC 2025 Master of Ceremonies (NB): In a time when diverse voices are too often silenced or erased, GLAAWC ensures that Black writers and thinkers remain centered. It gives us ownership of our narratives and celebrates the creativity and resilience of our community.

    What compelled you to get involved with GLAAWC?

    NDM: As an author and hybrid book publisher, GLAAWC was appealing because it was the only space I saw in our city that offered tools specifically to Black literary creatives to elevate in their craft.

    NB: I was drawn to GLAAWC because of its mission to amplify Black voices and honor the richness of our literary and cultural traditions. Storytelling has always been a way we connect, heal, and preserve history, so being part of a space that uplifts those voices felt like a natural fit for me.

    What are you most excited for at GLAAWC this year?

    LL: We are bringing new regional partners into the community this year. More to come on this!

    NDM: GLAAWC brings hopeful stories that create impact, and I believe many will walk away feeling inspired.

    NB: I’m excited to learn about the process of writing and publishing my own story, whether fiction, nonfiction, or biography, and to gain inspiration from authors who have already taken that journey.

    Have there been any changes or new ideas to GLAAWC this year?

    LL: The library systems in Cuyahoga County have been supportive of GLAAWC in various ways over the years. This year, the Cuyahoga County Public Library has entered the fold in a new and exciting way–partnering with us to bring our Langston Hughes Literary Keynote, Diane McKinney-Whetstone, author of Family Spirit.

    NDM: In addition to the instatement of my position as Producer, we’ve added new partners to the mix, such as FutureLand, to expand our audience reach and tap into the literary creatives who are connected to other spaces such as tech, entrepreneurship, and arts & entertainment.

    NB: Nicole D. Miller stepping in as Producer is an exciting addition, bringing fresh energy and vision.

    Can you share a favorite moment or memory from past GLAAWC events?

    LL: Well, I have two. First, I am always heart-struck when the elders turn out for GLAAWC. Over the years I have encountered octogenarians and nonagenarians that made indelible impressions upon me. Second, two of our Langston Hughes Literary Keynote speakers–Tayari Jones and Damon Young–both approached me after their presentations and uttered, verbatim, “Leah, I did not know how much I need this.” “This,” meant the opportunity to be in the presence of an audience that reflects their culture.

    NDM: One of the highlights for me was witnessing the legendary Walter Mosely as a key speaker. For an “on-the-rise” author like me, the opportunity to learn from literary legends is priceless.

    NB: This is my first year, but being part of GLAAWC means my voice matters, our stories matter, and representation across the diaspora creates lasting impact.

    What does it mean to you to be a part of a space that celebrates Black literature and storytelling?

    NDM: Everything. GLAAWC perfectly aligns with the mission of my personal brand, which is to educate, empower, and heal the Black community through creativity.

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  • Cleveland Book Fest Kicks Off a Month of Literary Activity Around the Region

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    What if every single resident in the Greater Cleveland Area engaged with a book this September?

    We have come together to find out.

    Our mission is to nurture Northeast Ohio’s love for literature. No matter the genre, no matter the age, no matter the reading level—we want the whole city to discover a story worth sharing.

    The stakes are high.

    In an era of censorship, disinformation, literacy gaps, and the dismantling of cultural and educational institutions—now is the time for us to come together and stand up for the future of literary arts in our city.

    For the entire month of September, we are bringing literary arts events to every corner of the city, and almost all are free of charge.

    Cleveland Book Fest (formerly known as Cleveland Book Week) is a multi-organization initiative with official partners including: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, The City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland Public Library, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Great Lakes African American Writers Conference (GLAAWC), Lake Erie Ink, Literary Cleveland and Writers in Residence.

    This year’s festival is slated to draw in thousands of book lovers, writers, and residents through author talks, poetic-inspired exhibits, dynamic readings, and publishing panels. From rock legends Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo promoting their new picture book at Cleveland Public Library to New York Times bestselling author Celeste Ng keynoting Literary Cleveland’s annual Inkubator Writing Conference, Cleveland Book Fest provides diverse entry points into the world of literature.

    For the month of September, Cleveland will transform into one of the nation’s most literary cities. We hope you’ll join us.

    YOUTH, TEEN, AND FAMILY PROGRAMMING
    This year’s Cleveland Book Fest features more family-friendly programming than ever before. The Cleveland Public Library kicks off Cleveland Book Fest this year on September 3 with a family-friendly program at the MLK Branch featuring the legendary rock duo Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, who will read their newly released picture book, My Grandma and Grandpa Rock!

    Lake Erie Ink, Writers in Residence, CHARP EDucation, and Sparrow’s Fortune will follow that up on September 11 with Listen Up! Teen Writers Fest, also at the MLK Branch of the Cleveland Public Library. Teens in grades 7th-12th across the Greater Cleveland Community are invited to write in response to prompts, share work in an open mic, hear from local guest poets, eat pizza, and grab giveaways.

    Then, on September 14, join Literary Cleveland for a free book giveaway at the West Side Market in partnership with the Cleveland Public Library. CPL will give away books at a fruit and vegetable stand in the arcade, Comics at the Corner and Carol and John’s Comic Shop will have free comics, and Rust Belt Humanities Lab will be on hand for a free talk on comics.

    WRITING WORKSHOPS, CONFERENCES, LECTURES, AND MORE
    If you’re an emerging writer looking to share your work, learn from publishing professionals, gain insights from highly-esteemed authors, and sharpen your craft—Cleveland Book Fest has the perfect lineup for you.

    Literary Cleveland will launch its 11th annual Inkubator Writing Conference, the largest free writing conference in the nation. The 2025 conference theme, “Burn Bright,” is taken from the words of 2025 Inkubator Keynote speaker Celeste Ng. As she writes in her book Our Missing Hearts: “If the world is on fire you might as well burn bright.” The conference features virtual events September 8-10; 40+ workshops on writing and publishing at the main Cleveland Public Library on September 11-13; and community programs throughout the month, including a free open mic event hosted by Calil “Just C.O.S.” Cage and Siaara Freeman of The Sparrow’s Fortune. See the full schedule and register for free at inkubator.litcleveland.org.

    Attend the Eighth Annual Great Lakes African American Writers Conference September 27 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Cleveland Public Library-MLK Branch for their annual day-long conference where Black literary creatives are celebrated and highlighted for their work in Cleveland and beyond. The 2025 conference features a nationally renowned author, Diane McKinney-Whetstone (the Langston Hughes Literary Keynote), and Kim Martin Sadler (the Alice Dunbar Nelson Professional Keynote), a publishing industry expert, to share insights with authors and aspiring writers throughout the region. Accompanied by in-depth panel discussions, opportunities to network with esteemed literary minds, and be equipped with trending literary tactics, this event is a must-attend for all literary creatives and lovers of African American literature.

    90 YEARS OF TRUTH TELLING THROUGH LITERATURE
    The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA), the only national juried prize for literature that addresses racism and diversity, proudly marks its 90th anniversary with a citywide celebration September 19–20. The weekend begins with a special City Club of Cleveland Friday Forum at 11:30 a.m. featuring literary scholars Jonathan D. S. Schroeder (AWBA 2025) and Vincent Brown (AWBA 2021) in conversation on Rediscovering Resistance: John Swanson Jacobs and 600,000 Despots. The forum will be held at the City Club of Cleveland (1317 Euclid Ave.) and is open to the public (tickets available on CityClub.org, $45 each).

    That evening, the 90th Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Ceremony will take place at the Maltz Performing Arts Center (1855 Ansel Rd.) beginning at 6:30 p.m. featuring Janice N. Harrington, Tessa Hulls, Jonathan D. S. Schroeder, and Danzy Senna. Nicole Sealey and John Murillo will accept the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Yusef Komunyakaa. A public reception with book signings, food, and drinks will follow at the Ballroom at Park Lane.

    The 90th Anniversary Celebration continues September 20 at the Cleveland Public Library’s MLK Branch with two dynamic panels. Doors open at 9 a.m. Authors in attendance include: Natasha Trethewey (AWBA 2021), Peter Ho Davies (AWBA 2017), Charles King (AWBA 2020), Tiya Miles (AWBA 2022), George Makari (AWBA 2022), David Livingstone Smith (AWBA 2012), Adrian Matejka (AWBA 2014), Ilya Kaminsky (AWBA 2020), Victoria Chang (AWBA 2021), Monica Youn (AWBA 2024), Marilyn Chin (AWBA 2015), Shane McCrae (AWBA 2018), and Tyehimba Jess (AWBA 2017), with more to be announced.

    In the afternoon, the celebration will shift to Ohio City with a series of intimate, author-led conversations and performances featuring Danzy Senna, Deesha Philyaw, Tessa Hulls, Maxine Hong Kingston, Jonathan D. S. Schroeder, and Janice N. Harrington. All of the afternoon events are free, open to the public, and within walking distance of each other. General admission tickets are released on September 2. For more information and to receive event updates, visit Anisfield-Wolf.org.

    BOOK LAUNCH EVENTS
    Cuyahoga County Public Library has a suite of book release events throughout September. Two highlights are the trailblazing historian Jill Lepore and the Man Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan.

    On September 22 from 7-8 p.m., Jill Lepore will discuss her latest book, We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution at the Cuyahoga County Public Library Parma-Snow Branch. Each ticket ($35 +fees) includes a seat at the author’s talk, a copy of We the People, and a donation to the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation.

    On September 26 at 7:30 p.m., Writers Center Stage presents Ian McEwan at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. Ian McEwan’s literary works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. His novel, Atonement, received the WH Smith Literary Award in 2002 and was made into an Oscar-winning film featuring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. His new book, What We Can Know, will be published on September 18. Single tickets ($25-35) go on sale, September 3rd.

    With this wide range of offerings, we hope you know that there is a place for you in the world of literature. Whether you’re a reluctant reader or an avid book lover, we know you will find a story worth sharing this September. Confirmed events and additional details are available at www.clevelandbookfest.com.

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  • Russell Atkins, Cleveland Poet Who Made Strides in Avant-Garde Scene, Dead at 98

    Russell Atkins, Cleveland Poet Who Made Strides in Avant-Garde Scene, Dead at 98

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    Russell Atkins / Facebook

    The Cleveland poet Russell Atkins, who died at 98 on August 15, in an undated photo.

    Russell Atkins, the poet who reached national attention with his ear for the avant garde and who rarely left his hometown of Cleveland, died in an assisted living facility in Midtown on August 15. He was 98.

    Though a close friend and confidante to mainstays—and more well-known—of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, like Langston Hughes and Amiri Baraka, Atkins worked quietly over a six-decade career, producing a half dozen chapbooks of poetry and several scores of musical compositions.

    His collection Here in The, published by Cleveland State University’s Poetry Center in 1976, was surprisingly Atkins’ only full-length book released in his almost 10 decades of life. It spans the poet’s stylistic range that made him a sought-after mentor in Cleveland’s poetry scene from the 1990s to the early aughts.

    All of which fashioned Atkins as an anomaly just as he was a gem to those who had been lucky to discover his art.

    “He was one of the real geniuses of American poetry for about three decades,” poet and native Clevelander Kevin Prufer, who knew Atkins in his later years, told Scene. “And everything sort of conspires to keep him out of public view, even though he had a huge following in Cleveland. I mean, really loyal students.”

    One of the original progenitors of poetry’s Concrete movement, which argued that the visual form of a poem influences its meaning, Atkins actually spent his early years in music. In the 1940s, in his twenties, Atkins studied piano at the Cleveland School of the Arts and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He would compose boxes full of piano scores late until his eighties, yet he published or performed very little.

    In 1947, Atkins published his first work, “Poem,” in View, a budding journal of poetry and prose formed with the help of friend Hughes, who had moved to New York City to develop its own movement. It wasn’t until five years later, in 1952, when Atkins formed his own iteration, Free Lance, a magazine published locally, that he would help propel the work of fellow Black experimenters in verse.

    Like e.e. cummings and Audre Lorde, Atkins tinkered with the mixture of images and sounds through a non-conformist type of structure—words and phrases decorating the page with huge indents, in lowercase lettering or with a jazzy flair to their typography and musicality. Critics later gave such a name: phenomenalism.

    We see it throughout Atkins’ verse: a merging of form, color and sound. In “While Waiting for a Friend to Come to Visit a Friend in a Mental Hospital,” Atkins writes:

    the attendant keeps watch, watching
    that abrupt wild uranium grow a bat’s ears,
    sardine flowers, moons’ eggs,
          stomach guitars,
    a double-bass rump –– but he’s err:
    one shrewds to his inferences,
    here where the world’s sharp’d
    sheen’d across with antiseptic spear

    Just as we see, in Atkins’ dramatic take on Lake Erie, in “Lakefront, Cleveland”:

    it gathers strength
    summoned ascends huged up
                  then softs!
    curls up about rocks
    upcurls about thick
    about bold curls up
                  about it
    then dangerous ‘d soft!

    Prufer, who discovered Atkins’ work after attending a workshop at Cleveland State in the late 2000s, said he was so wowed at the poet’s sense of musicality that he included Atkins in Pleiades Press’ Unsung Masters Series, a 2010 book titled Russell Atkins: on the Life and Work of an American Master.

    A year later, back in Cleveland, Prufer decided to seek out Atkins, who was living in an assisted living facility in Midtown. The two met in Atkins’ apartment, discussed poetry. Atkins showed Prufer, he said, a closet-full collection of unpublished scores and letters from Marianne Moore and Hughes. (Those, Prufer recalled, later “burned” after a bedbug infestation.)

    Such discovery was a kind of metaphor for Atkins and his writings, which are hard to come by save for niche website archives and resales of early editions.

    “Russell was known and admired by many,” Prufer said, “but obscure to many of the people who would have gotten a great deal of benefit from knowing his work.”

    In 2017, Atkins was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. Later that year, a portion of Grand Avenue in Midtown was renamed in his honor.

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  • FRONT International Cleveland Triennial Abruptly Cancels 2025 Show, Will Shut Down Operations

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    FrontArt

    A FRONT exhibit in 2018. The organization decided to fold its triennial last week.

    FRONT International, the citywide triennial art exposition that aimed to boost Cleveland as a global arts destination since launching in 2018, will no longer be debuting new pieces.

    Last week, its board of directors decided that the arts festival will cancel its 2025 show and subsequently shut down future operations, about a year and half before its planned opening date for the next event. Its directors, however, chose to still keep its non-profit entity, Front Exhibition Co., alive for future endeavors.

    The reason for the abrupt end to its eight-year tenure in Northeast Ohio was mainly a financial issue, Fred Bidwell, FRONT’s founder and director, said in a statement released February 9.

    “Public and private funding priorities have changed to focus on the critical needs of communities,” he and the board said. “Our priority is to ensure that we do not risk the investment our funders and supporters have made, or disappoint artists and audiences with an exhibition that is less that their expectations.”

    In a phone interview Monday morning with Bidwell, the arts funder said that the organization’s fundraising results were “significantly lower” than their typical $5.5 million benchmark, as it was for shows in 2018 and 2022. (Bidwell declined to say exactly how short they were.)

    The festival had made quite the impression when it debuted six years ago. Dozens of installations brought some 90,000 visitors to indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces across the city to see work from hundreds of regional, national and international artists.

    Some that work still remains today: Julie Mehretu’s mural behind Old Stone Church  and Tony Taffett’s “Judy’s Hand” (that enormous silver palm right outside MOCA) were all FRONT commissions.

    Spreads in Architectural Digest, ArtNet and the New York Times framed Bidwell’s citywide art-a-thon as a sure touristic boost. The New York Times, in 2018, compared FRONT’s potential to what Documenta did for Kassel. “If it can regularly bring tens of thousands of art lovers and internatoinal attemtion to a small, drab, industrial city in Germany, could art do the same thing in Cleveland?” the paper speculated.

    At home, critics were a lot less myopic. Some saw FRONT’s dream of being an international beacon a little too international: only six regional artists were tapped for its first iteration. “Could the organizers have pushed harder for the attention of and participation from everyday Clevelanders?” a Scene writer wrote at the time.

    Bidwell himself felt that, although the decision to end FRONT instead of running an underfunded show was a logical one, there remained a possibility of reviving it in other mediums in future years.

    “We can do this, and we need to continue to do this,” he told Scene, “but in other forms, other formats, other venues.”

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    Mark Oprea

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