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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

9:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Featured

Registration & Welcome Lounge

Lobby

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

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Panel

Owning a Black Art Business

Building, Gathering & Sustaining Community 

Angela Howzer, Mareisha Winters Reese, LeJuane Bowens, Dasan Ahanu, and Jessie Huddleston; moderated by Ariel Seay

2:15 PM – 3:15 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

3:15 PM – 4:30 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.

4:30 PM – 5:15 PM

Dinner Break

5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Featured

Opening Keynote

Rest, Resilience, Radical Joy & the Natural World

Keynote: Danez Smith
in conversation with Tara Pringle Jefferson

7:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Featured

Book Signing & Reception

Meet greet and Book Signing 
Danez Smith

7:45 PM – 9:15 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

Digging for the Truth

Reporting, Research and Finding the story. A Freelancing Masterclass
Aaliyah Wright

Workshop

Abstract and Prophetic Poetics

 
D’Angelo Dia 

Workshop

Writing the South without Apology

Ecology, Memory and Southern Landscape

Nadia Alexis 

Workshop

Smile Black Child

Interactive Children’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 stories to the south

Cynthia Harbor

Talk

Rooted

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

Saturday Midday Sessions and activities

11:30 PM – 12:30 PM

Participating authors : Coming soon

Featured

Intersectional Community Care

Rest, Resilience and Radical Joy
Danez Smith and Ericka Hart

Lunch Vendor Market and Book Signings

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Participating authors : Coming soon

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM

Participating authors : Coming soon

Panel

Black Boy Joy:

Writing Black Boys Beyond Survival, Friendship and Black Masculinity

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

Talk

Ancestral Knowledge and Genealogy

Creative Nonfiction and Poetry

 
Thomas Kneeland

Panel (All Access Only)

Publishers and Editors Roundtable

Editors roundtable and pitch fest with editors and agents to be announced

Talk

Where the South Gets Strange

Black Women, Place, Humor, and the Unruly Imagination

Halle Hill and Regina Bradley

Saturday Afternoon Sessions

3:00 PM – 4:00 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

4:15 PM – 5:30 PM

Talk

You Cannot Be an Anchor for Them and Swim Too

Wellness and Self Care

 
Kim B. Miller and Tamela Julia Gordon; moderated by Regina Carter Garcia

Panel

Young, Black and Boundless

Ya and Children’s Literature

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

Talk

Cowboy Carter

Exploring Black Cowboy Heritage in Fairfield County

 
A workshop, documentary screening, and line dancing with Abrianna Johnson and Neal Lester; honoring the legacy of DeLana Dameron

Saturday Evening and Night

5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Panel

Dinner Break, Book Signings

 

 
Authors list coming soon

Featured

Evening with the Griots and Dinner:

Enjoy a meal with our Griots

 
Special Guets Khalisa, Eric and more!

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Featured

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

 
Jay Ward, Donovan Livingston, LeJuane Bowens, James Daniels, Asiah Mae, and Britny Cordera.
Moderated by Danielle P. Williams

8:00 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

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Featured (All Access and VIP 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

Griot & Grey Owl founders, musical guests, and conference team

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