Poet laureates Glenis Redmond, left, Jaki Shelton Green, Asiah Mae, and Donovan Livingston.

DURHAM – This year's Griot & Grey Owl Black Southern Writers Conference celebrated the heritage of Southern Black storytelling based in the Carolinas. The annual three-day conference, held Nov. 7-9 in Durham, brought together a community of poets, writers, children's books authors, illustrators and artists. This year’s attendance of about 500 more than doubled last year’s.

The theme, “Carolina Gold: Mining Stories from the Appalachia to the Gullah Coast,” honored the legacies of Southern ancestors while spotlighting contemporary voices shaping the future of literature, art and culture, said Khalisa Rae Thompson, co-founder and conference director.

“Carolina Gold is more than a theme; it’s a legacy. This year, we’re honoring the stories rooted in our soil, our songs and our survival. From the mountains to the coast, the Black South is alive in our words,” she said.

The opening ceremony kicked off Friday with performances and keynote readings featuring Crystal Wilkinson, past poet laureate of Kentucky and a 2022 NAACP Image Award winner; Nnenna Freelon, six-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist; and son Pierce Freelon, Emmy Award-winning musician and author. Saturday were writing sessions, poetry masterclasses and a literary publishing workshop.

Thompson and her husband, Eric, of Durham, founded the Griot & Grey conference as a communal gathering of Black literary artists.

“What is outstanding to me is that not only are people so dedicated and reaching out and starved for community but also that this isn’t just a place where you’re going to buy books and hear authors. This is a place where people are seeking out community, enrichment and healing, and every year they tell us more and more that they get that. Our mission was that people would take the seeds from this metaphorical food and go plant it in their own community,” Thompson said.

North Carolina poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green said the first African American writers conference was held in the late 1970s at North Carolina Central University, and there had not been another since until the Griot & Grey Owl, which is in its third year. Green said it is refreshing to see a revival of community building among Black writers, and Black stories would be lost without platforms like the Griot & Grey Owl.

"I'm very excited at the level of commitment of young writers and emerging writers to carry on this legacy of Black literature," she said. "Right now, Black voices and Black lives are being erased, annihilated, unalived, censored. Now, more than ever, we have to encourage each other to speak the power of utterance. Without it, what would be lost is our stories, our heritage."

Green was among several poet laureates who spoke during a special tribute to late poet Nikki Giovanni, sharing how her work influenced their own. Among them were Donovan Livingston, Chapel Hill poet laureate whose 2016 Harvard Graduate School of Education convocation address went viral, reaching more than 13 million views; Glenis Redmond, the first poet laureate of Greenville, South Carolina; and Asiah Mae, the second poet laureate of Charleston.

The panelists were asked what advice they would share with upcoming young writers.

Mae said poetry is a political act because it requires you to tell the truth. “As a poet, as a writer, as an artist in these times, it is your duty to tell the truth, to tell what you see, to tell what you hear, to make it known that you exist in this time, and this is how you recollect this because otherwise it will be erased and you’ll never know if it was true,” she said.

Livingston encouraged young artists as Giovanni encouraged him. “If I could share one thing with people who just want to share their voice but don’t know how to start, just remember the space you inhabit is already yours, you just have to step to the mic and remind yourself that you belong,” he said.

Green stressed the importance of having knowledge and access to information. “I always think of access and accessibility, making sure those doorways are not blocked,” she said. “Accessibility to information and making sure our children really understand their worth, really know who they are and that they can walk in any room and declare who they are. That’s what we’ve been doing this weekend. We’re a declaration that we are here, and that means more than just being here but do the do here, due diligence.”

Redmond spoke about a sense of personal and collective grief during the current political and social climate. “In these times, when we’re talking about us being erased right before our eyes, one of the things I would say to young people is to remember to write about the place you are from, the very ground, your people and your emotional place where you are from and don’t let anyone take that from you,” she said.

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