EDWARDSVILLE - The Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club, named for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s emeritus professor of English, will continue its weeklong celebration of its 30th year anniversary, a Festival of ‘Conch-Us-nest’, from 1-4 p.m. today at the East St. Louis Higher Education Campus.
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A Master’s Workshop panel featuring Shirley Bradley Leflore, Haki R. Madhubuti, Darlene Roy and Jerry Ward, Jr. will be held in room 2074 of Building B, 601 James R. Thompson Dr., in East St. Louis.
The celebration opened Tuesday, Oct. 18 with Arkansippi Memwars, a poetry reading by Redmond at SIUE’s Elijah P. Lovejoy Library. The event was hosted by Howard Rambsy, PhD, professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, and Andrew Theising, PhD, chair of the Department of Political Science.
Other events scheduled for the week include:
- Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m., EBR Writers Club’s 26th annual “Break Word with the World: A Conch-Us-Nest-Raising Reading/Performance,” featuring Michael Castro, Roscoe “Ros” Crenshaw, Charlois Lumpkin (a.k.a. Mali Newman), Haki R. Madhubuti, Darlene Roy, MK Stallings, Sunshine’s Drum Ensemble, Jerry W. Ward Jr. and Jaye P. Willis, in rooms 2083 and 2084 in Building B, East St. Louis Higher Education Campus
- Friday, Oct. 21, 10:30 a.m. – Tour of The Eugene B. Redmond Collection & Learning Center with responses by Redmond, Roy and Ward and a reception on the second floor of Lovejoy Library.
- Friday, Oct. 21, 7 p.m. – “A Familistic Literary and Cultural Arts Celebration” featuring Castro, Shirley Bradley Leflore, EBR Writers Club members Crenshaw, Lumpkin/Newman, Roy and Willis, Delano Redmond Jazz Ensemble, Treasure Shields Redmond, Sunshine’s East St. Louis Community Performance Ensemble, Ward and Valerie Adams at Sunshine’s Cultural Arts Center, 630 N 59th St., in East St. Louis.
The EBR Writers Club was founded and chartered by Sherman L. Fowler, Redmond and Roy. The Club's first trustees were Margaret Walker Alexander (1915-1998) and Maya Angelou (1928-2014). Avery Brooks, Haki R. Madhubuti, Walter Mosley, Quincy Troupe, Jerry Ward, Jr. and Lena J. Weathers are current trustees. Writer Henry L. Dumas (1934-1968), whom Toni Morrison has called “an absolute genius,” is patron saint of the group.
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