Facebook-f Twitter Instagram

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

November 13–15, 2026
"We Were Never Meant to Survive"
Rest • Resilience • Radical Joy

Every session is an invitation to rest, to imagine, to write, and to reconnect.

Choose a day below or scroll to explore the full weekend schedule

* Please note that as we are working to bring you the best experience things may change* 

Friday
Saturday
Sunday

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

↑ Return to Weekend Overview

Opening Day: Building Sustainable Black Art Communities

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Featured

Registration & Welcome Lounge

Lobby

Check in, grab your conference materials, meet fellow attendees, visit sponsors, and explore the opening vendor market.

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Panel

Owning a Black Art Business

Building, Gathering & Sustaining Community 

Shani Young, Ariel Seay Howard, Mareisha Winters Reese and More!

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Panel

Afrofuturism, History & the Black South

Meet authors, discover independent presses, browse vendors, and connect before the keynote.

Robert Green, Ebony Toussaint, Shaquinta Richardson, Tayler Simon
Moderator Dasan Ahanu 

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Featured

Community Reception & Vendor Market

Meet authors, discover independent presses, browse vendors, and connect before the keynote.

Authors comming soon!

Community Reception & Vendor Market

Meet authors, discover independent presses, browse vendors, and connect before the keynote.

5:30 PM – 6:15 PM

Dinner Break

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

Featured

Opening Keynote

Rest, Resilience, Radical Joy & the Natural World

Keynote: Danez Smith
Moderator: Tara Pringle Jefferson

8:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Featured

Book Signing & Reception

Meet greet and Book Signing 
Danez Smith

8:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Featured

Opening Night Film

Moive: TBA
TBA

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14

↑ Return to Weekend Overview

Morning Workshops and Conversations

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Choose your experience

Talk

Artist and Community Care:

Rest, Resilience and Radical Joy
Danez Smith and (Ericka Hart) 

Workshop

Abstract and Prophetic Poetics

 
D’Angelo Dia 

Workshop

Writing the South without Apology:

Ecology, Memory and Southern Landscape

Nadia Alexis 

Workshop

Interactive Childern’s Book Workshop

 
Thomisha Booker 

Morning Workshops and Conversations

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM

Choose your experience

Workshop

Writing Joy when the World is burning:

 

Tracy Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts 

Talk

Hoodoo, Voodoo and the Stories we inherit

 
Jo Davis-McElligatt 

Talk

Beyond Preservation:

Helping Memories find their way home and returning black to Souther Stories

Tracy Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts 

Talk

Rooted:

Africulture, the Plants and Lands of African People in the South
Michael Carter 

Saturday Midday Sessions and activities

11:15 PM – 12:15 PM

Participating authors : Coming soon

Lunch Vendor Market and Book Signings

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Panel

Black Boy Joy:

Writing Black Boys Beyond Survival, Friendship and Black Masculinity

Kwame Mbalia, Tyree Daye, Justin Pye, D’Angelo Dia and Neal Lester 

Talk

Ancestral Knowledge:

Genealogy in Creative Nonfiction and Poetry

 
Thomas Kneeland

Panel (All Access Only)

Editors Roundtable and Pitch Fest:

B. Sharise Moore, Liberation Station, Duke University Press, UNC Press, Feminist Press, Southern Cultures, Blair Publishing, James Daniels, and additional editors

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM

Talk

Bloom How You Must:

Black Woman, Wellness and the cost of Overachievement

Mareisha Winters Reese in conversation with Tara Pringle Jefferson

Talk

“Nasty Work”:

Sex, Power and the Politics of Desire

 
Ericka Hart

Featured

Vendors, Booking signings:

Open room for book signings, vendors, networking, or an additional session

Saturday Afternoon Sessions

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Participating authors : Coming soon

Talk

Where the South Gets Strange:

Black Women, Place, Humor, and the Unruly Imagination

 
Halle Hill and Regina Bradley

Talk

You Cannot Be an Anchor for Them and Swim Too:

Hood Wellness and Self-Care

 
Kim B Miller with Tamela Julia Gordon

4:10 PM – 5:25 PM

Panel

Young, Black and Boundless:

YA and Children’s Literature

 
Derrick Barnes, Kwame Mbalia, Thomishia Booker, and B. Sharise Moore; moderated by Tonya Abari

Workshop

Cowboy Carter:

Exploring Black, Cowboy Heritage in Fairfield County

Workshop, documentary showing, and line dancing with Abrianna Johnson and Neal Lester; honoring DeLana Dameron

Saturday Evening and Night

5:45 PM – 6:45 PM

Featured

Dinner Break, Book Signings

 
Participating authors coming soon! 

Featured

Evening with the Griots and Dinner:

Enjoy a meal with our Griots

 
Special Guets Khalisa, Eric and more!

7:00 PM – 8:10 PM

Featured

Poet Laureates, Place, and the Power of the Southern Voice

 
Jay Ward, Donovan Livingston, LeJuane Bowens, Asiah Mae, and additional poets!
Moderator: Danielle P. Williams

8:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Featured

The Griot Poetry Slam:

Enjoy a night of completive poetry as some of the best poets in the world show case their amazing talents! 

 
Hosted by Jordan Bailey!

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15

↑ Return to Weekend Overview

Saturday Afternoon Sessions

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM

Featured

Yoga and Writing Reflection:

An Outdoor Healing Rest Practice 

 
Yolanda J.D. Green and Sonia McCallum

10:15 AM – 11:45 AM

Featured (All Access Only)

The Griot Brunch for the soul

Writing, Food, Spirit, and the Stories That Sustain Us

 
Samara B. Davis

11:45 AM – 12:30 PM

Featured

Brunch Break, Vendor Market and Book Signings

 
Participation authors coming soon!

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Featured

Rest Is a Spell: 

Oral Tradition, Healing, and Ancestral Practice

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

Workshops

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

Panels

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

Talks

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

Bookfair vendors

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum

Featured

Music, Closing Ceremony: 

Community Gratitude, and the 2027 Announcement

Veronica Carrington, also known as Roni Nicole; Ron and possible guests Yolanda J.D. Green, Michael Carter, and Sonia McCallum