Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Alice Walker Featured
at New York University International Conference
on Black Women Writers from October 12-16

(AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWSWIRE)New York, NY “New York University Institute of African-American Affairs and Africana Studies Program, in collaboration with the Organization of Women Writers of Africa, Inc. (OWWA), will sponsor Yari Yari Pamberi Black Women Writers Dissecting Globalization: An International Conference on Literature by Women of African Ancestry, a major large-scale conference that examines globalization from a female perspective from October 12-16, 2004 on the NYU campus.

Globalization, now a buzzword in the West, has been a phenomenon that has shaped the culture and politics of Africa and its Diaspora for centuries. Yari Yari Pamberi will bring together women from across the U.S., Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, South America, Asia and New Zealand. There will be renowned and emerging novelists, poets, playwrights, performers, filmmakers, scholars, critics, publishers, translators, visual artists, organizers, and archivists to define the real meaning of globalization and its possibilities for development. Yari Yari Pamberi will also be on a special webcast.

The conference title Yari Yari is taken from the Kuranko language of Sierra Leone, meaning the future, and Pamberi means forward in the Shona language of Zimbabwe. Yari Yari Pamberi is the second conference at NYU highlighting the work and scholarship of Black women writers. The conference will consist of panel discussions, film and video screenings, music performances, conversations, readings, workshops, art exhibits and open mike sessions. Participants include: Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Ama Ata Aidoo, Lucille Clifton, Octavia Butler, Louise Meriwether, Maryse Condé, Nawal El Saadawi, Buchi Emecheta, Regina Taylor, Gloria Naylor, Edwidge Danticat, Sapphire, Euzhan Palcy, Patricia McFadden, Jessica Care Moore, Julie Dash, Sonia Sanchez, Lebogang Mashile, Alexis DeVeaux, Ntozake Shange, Jayne Cortez and many others.

“Black women writers from around the globe have been struggling against racism, exploitation, gender oppression, and other human rights violations,” said Jayne Cortez, poet and president of OWWA. "The psychological and physiological consequences of globalization have been a major part of the subject matter of the contemporary African writer. In relation to Africa and African culture, the international slave trade and colonialism forced significant contact with globalization in its early manifestations. What Black women writers want is to participate in global decisions concerning survival and the future of humanity. They need access to the progress of globalization. The conference will expand and intensify the dialogue."

On Wednesday, October 13, Yari Yari Pamberi will hold a gala awards dinner co-chaired by ESSENCE magazine Susan L. Taylor, which will recognize individuals who have contributed to global awareness. Honorees include: Toni Morrison, Nancy Morejon, Tananarive Due, Barbara Masekela, Marcia Gillespie and Dr. Robert Bob Moses and the Algebra Project, Innovation in Education.

Yari Yari Pamberi is supported in part by the Ford Foundation and a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The four-day conference is open to the public. The fees are $100 per person and $50 for senior citizens and students. The daily rate is $25. (This does not include the Gala). For additional information on Yari Yari Pamberi, contact the Institute of African-American Affairs at 212-998-4222 or via email at laura.rice@nyu.edu or visit www.owwa.org.

PRESS CONTACT:
Fern Gillespie
732-291-9055
fernegillespie@aol.com