Zora Neale Hurston celebration next week

Author of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) and a participant in the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston’s extensive body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, autobiography and anthropological folklore.

The significance of her work and career will be discussed by a panel on Wednesday (Oct. 16) at 4 p.m. in Woodburn Hall 007. Panelists will include Tanisha Ford, IU graduate in English and African American studies; John McCluskey, author and professor of A AADS and English; Diane Perry, an AAADS graduate student; and William Wiggins, professor of AAADS with a specialization in folklore. Topics include the Harlem Renaissance, folklore, Hurston’s short stories and issues of gender, race and power.

On Thursday (Oct. 17) at 7 p.m. in Lindley Hall 102 , the Black Film Center/Archive will presents screening of The Gilded Six Bits, a film adaptation of Hurston’s classic short story. Filmmaker Booker T. Washington, the recipient of numerous award s, will be at the screening. His films have shown at the Smithsonian Institute, the Library of Congress, the Director’s Guild of America and the Black American Cinema Society.

A storytelling event ends the celebration on Friday (Oct. 18) at 4 p.m. at the Monroe County Library, Room 1C. Maxine LeGall, professor of communication at the University of the District of Columbia, will offer “Time Well Spent: Stories from Zora Neale Hu rston.” The storytelling will be cosponsored by the Heritage Project.

Now considered among the 20th century’s most important writers, Hurston died in obscurity and was buried in an unmarked grave. She was a Guggenheim fellow, a participant in both the WPA Federal Theatre Project and the Federal Writers Project, and conducte d folklore research throughout the Caribbean. A graduate of Howard University and Barnard College, Hurston’s grave was discovered and marked in 1973 by author Alice Walker, who also championed a major revival of interest in her life and work.

For additional information:
http://www.indiana.edu/~bfca