Black History Month Turns One Hundred!
2026 marks one hundred years of formally celebrating Black History Month, which was established as Negro History Week by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Please join AWP in celebrating Black History Month this February. AWP is committed to respecting, uplifting, and honoring Black voices both inside and outside the literary world, particularly those in underrepresented and marginalized communities. Below, find a collection of Writer’s Chronicle articles, past AWP events, and upcoming online events related to Black history.
Be sure to visit our Bookshop.org list of influential and prolific Black authors and poets as well.
Finally, mark your calendar for Thursday, February 19, 2026, when AWP will host a live Writer’s Desk event for Black History Month! “The Stories We Carry—Writing Remembrance, Radiance & Resilience” will be moderated by Carla Du Pree and feature authors Carole Weatherford, Amber McBride, and Sharon G. Flake.
From The Writer’s Chronicle
MFA vs. HBCU by Kendra Nicole Bryant, October 2025
#AWP25 HBCU Fellowship Program Reflections, August 2025
A Very Unlikely Author by Princess Joy L. Perry, August 2025
From Muse to Subject: Crafting Poems from the Life of Nina Simone by Shonda Buchanan, August 2025
Ready to Dream Again: A Conversation with A. Van Jordan by Lauren Myers-Hinkle, April 2024
Truth(s) Be Told: Citizenship and Composite Counterstories by Donald Quist, November 2023
The AWP HBCU Fellowship: The Recipients and Advisor A.J. Verdelle Reflect on the Program’s Inaugural Year, September 2023
Writing for the Freshest Air: A Conversation with Jason Mott by Michael Colbert, November 2022
A Conversation with Sonia Sanchez by Chapman Hood Frazier, November 2022
On Inaugural Poet—Amanda Gorman by E. Ethelbert Miller, April 2021
An Interview with Jericho Brown by Jona Colson, November 2020
Poetic Form as a Tool for Restoring the Black Body to History: Tyehimba Jess, Marilyn Nelson, Derek Walcott, & Countee Cullen by Jasmine V. Bailey, November 2020
In Our Way: Racism in Creative Writing by Claudia Rankine, October/November 2016
Make It New/Make It Funky: An Interview with Cornelius Eady by Jona Colson, December 2010
Like Water Remembering Light: An Interview with Marilyn Nelson by Leslie McGrath, September 2009
An Interview with Rita Dove by Elizabeth Alexander, October/November 2005
Whole Sight: Notes on New Black Fiction by Charles Johnson, February 1985
Rewatch AWP Events
#AWP25 Keynote Address with Roxane Gay
#AWP25 Black Words Are Black Wealth: A Lecture by Tayari Jones, Sponsored by IngramSpark
#AWP25 Cave Canem Presents Magnitude & Bond: A Field Study on Black Literary Arts Organizations
#AWP24 Keynote Address by Jericho Brown
#AWP24 Furious Flower Presents Nikky Finney, Anastacia-Reneé, and Malika Booker
#AWP24 Black Women As (Keepers of) the Archive: Photographs, Hybrid and Historical Text
#AWP24 Where Is Literary Criticism Headed?, Sponsored by the National Book Critics Circle
#AWP23 NBCC Presents Honorée Fannone Jeffers and Namwali Serpell, Moderated by Jane Ciabattari
#AWP23 Cave Canem Presents: Duende & The Harlem Arts Salon
#AWP23 Blue Flower Arts Presents Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Kwame Dawes, and Chigozie Obioma
#AWP22 Honoring the Endeavor with Cornelius Eady & Toi Derricotte
Virtual AWP in Conversation: Celebrating Black Poetry with Cave Canem
Virtual AWP Pedagogy: Reclaiming Genre Fiction for the Creative Writing Classroom
#AWP21 Event Tribute to June Jordan, Sponsored by Copper Canyon Press
#AWP21 Legacy Conversations with C. S. Giscombe and Nathaniel Mackey, Sponsored by Cave Canem
#AWP21 NBCC Award Winners Edwidge Danticat and Sarah M. Broom on Finding Home
AWP Virtual Book Club Featuring Horsepowerby Joy Priest
Virtual AWP: Conversations with Writers Featuring Maurice Carlos Ruffin & Regina Brooks
Upcoming Online Events
All events appear in ET.
Sunday, February 1, 2026
6:00 p.m. ASALH 2026 Black History Month National Convening
This event is hosted by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the founders of Black History Month! ASALH National President & Karson Executive Director Karsonya Wise Whitehead will be in conversation with past ASALH National President Daryl Michael Scott, Journal of African American History editor Bertis English, critical race theorist and law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, and other invited guests.
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
1:00 p.m. Jarvis Givens: "I’ll Make Me a World”
Join the Enoch Pratt Free Library for an afternoon with Harvard University African and African American Studies Professor Jarvis Givens. In I’ll Make Me a World, Givens takes readers on a personal and political journey through the one-hundred-year history of Black History Month.
Thursday, February 5, 2026
2:00 p.m. AI and Race Speaker Series in Commemoration of Black History Month
Professor Renée Cummings, data activist in residence at the University of Virginia, will give a talk titled “Judged by Data: The Future of Fairness, Governing AI When Freedom Is at Stake, and What the Public Needs to Know About Justice in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” Register on Eventbrite to receive login information.
7:00 p.m. Virtual Book Talk: Swashbuckling Heroines with Novelist Vanessa Riley
Join the Detroit Public Library for an unforgettable experience as they chat online with Vanessa Riley about her newest book, Fire Sword and Sea, set in 1675 and based on the folk story of the mixed-race female pirate Jacquotte Delahaye. Please finalize your registration online.
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
12:00 p.m. The National African American Read-In
Celebrate Black History Month through the joy of reading with the Oakland Community College Libraries! This is OCC’s sixteenth year participating in this annual event sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English.
Thursday, February 12, 2026
2:00 p.m. Virtual Book Talk: Black Women’s Magic with Dr. Lindsey Stewart
Feminist philosopher Dr. Lindsey Stewart’s book The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic tells the stories of Black women who, in secrecy and subterfuge, courageously and devotedly continued their practices and worship for centuries and passed down their traditions. Be sure to register online for this free event.