The University Libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites you to an evening of celebration with the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective.

Join us to hear Carolina graduates and members of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective talk about the Collective and read excerpts from their works in “All the Songs We Sing,” the new anthology that marks the group’s 25^th anniversary. A Q&A will follow the readings.

CAAWC got its start with monthly meetings in poet Lenard D. Moore’s Raleigh home in August 1995. Over the years, this community has helped hone the skills of many celebrated writers, including Evie Shockley, 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist in poetry; Camille T. Dungy, a 2019 winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts; and Fred Joiner, the Carrboro poet laureate and winner of a 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.

Presenters for the evening:

L. Teresa Church, Ph.D., has been a member of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective since 1995. Her writings have appeared in publications including Simply Haiku; One Window’s Light: A Collection of Haiku; The Heron’s Nest; Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora; Solo Café; Nocturnes: (Re)view of the Literary Arts; African American Review; and North Carolina Literary Review. Her chapbooks include "Hand-Me-Down Calicos" and "Beyond the Water Dance."

Ashley Harris is a biomedical sciences graduate student, poet and Aquarius from Virginia who has an interest in medicine. She has a published short story, “Black Wall Street,” in both Spanish and English in the online magazine Aguas de Pozos. Her poetry book “If the Hero of Time was Black” (2018) was published by Weasel Press. She has poems in Cartridge Lit, Yellow Chair Review and WusGood.

Raina J. León, Ph.D., is an Afro-Latina and native Philadelphian who believes in collective action and community work and the liberatory practice of humanizing education. She is a member of Cave Canem, CantoMundo and Macondo. She is the author of three collections of poetry – “Canticle of Idols,” “Boogeyman Dawn” and “sombra: (dis)locate” – and the chapbooks “profeta without refuge” and “Areyto to Atabey: Essays on the mother(ing) self in the Afro-Boricua.” She is a founding editor of The Acentos Review.

Mélina Mangal, while working at the intersection of nature, literature and culture, highlights those whose voices are rarely heard, and the people and places that inspire them to explore their world. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science, she has authored short stories and biographies for youth, including “The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just,” winner of the Carter G. Woodson Award.

This event is co-presented by Blair Publishing and UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science.

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