The International Black Writers Festival 2025, with the theme “The Story of Us,” will be held at Howard University, Washington, DC, USA, from September 30 – October 2, 2025.
The International Black Writers Festival, brought to you by Moorland-Spingarn Research Centre, was first hosted at Howard University in 2022. It was inspired by the National Black Writers Festival, which began at Howard University in 1974. Attendees heard from student writers, presented by The Amistad—Howard University’s literary arts journal. There were panels of esteemed poets, essayists, publishers, professors, and journalists–some of them Howard alumni–where panellists described their origin stories as writers and provided insight on their work.
The 2025 edition will gather writers, scholars, critics, and artists from across the African diaspora for three days of readings, panel discussions, performances, and a public book fair, as well as the pop-up exhibit “The Library of Black Narratives,” a curated space that brings the theme to life through visual and literary storytelling.
Some of those who will feature will be Jacqueline Woodson, Clarence A. Haynes, Beverly Jenkins, LeeAnet Noble, Tony Medina, Kyr Mack, Tricia Elam Walker, Sufiya Abdur-Rahman, Kimberly Collins, Darlene Taylor, Kimberly Monroe, Stephanie Evans, Terrence Green, Tyler T. Lang, Alaysia Lawson, Nandi Talton, Alexandra Woods, Emil White, Melanee Harvey, Salamishah Tillet, Michal Raz-Russo, D. Watkins, Nicole Fleetwood, Ashley Reynolds, Kristina Forest, Kweli Zukeri, Tiera Tanksley, Glora Washington, Charlton McIlwain, Simone Browne, Leslie-Ann Murray, Samiya Bashir, Namwali Serpell, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Joshua Myers, Yao Glover, AB Spellman, Laini Mataka, Kenneth Carroll, Gabrielle Oliver, Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Tanya Barfield, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Nikkole Salter, Michael Ralph, Elizabeth Hinton, Orisanmi Burton, Stanley Andrisse, Dana Williams, among others.
All panels are in-person and will also be livestreamed at msrc.howard.edu/livestream. For more information on the festival, you can get information here.
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