The Language Lane

At times, you have been asked which prior literary scene you would want to visit. Some expect you to say the Harlem Renaissance, a...

Back in 1974, May 23 to be exact, I translated Pablo Neruda’s “Bruselas,” or “Brussels.” Of all that I’ve done, of all that I’ve lost, Of...

If you wait twenty years for something, you figure the payoff should be special. It is indeed if you read Maryemma Graham’s massive...

Some of My Favorite CCCC 2023 Moments that Ain’t Got Nothing to Do with the Formal Program 1.) When members of the Black Caucus...

During the first two years of the pandemic, my partner, Michael, and I were accorded the safety of working from home. Haphazardly, we...

A while back I received in the mail an envelope containing a short newspaper article about Ann Petry accompanied by a handwritten note....

The borough of Queens usually has been an afterthought, if that, in conversations about Black authors and sites of Black literary...

“I have not seen you in a few days, Semple.” “Been holed up at my nephew’s apartment,” replied Semple as he slid into a familiar seat at...

On the anniversary of the beginning of Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish rampage in the Third Reich from November 9-10, 1938, which left...

America’s favorite word echoed throughout the hallowed Ethel Barrymore Theatre this past weekend during the performance of August...

We are not ones to hold grudges. We have always sided with Antigone on such matters. In that spirit, we inaugurate the Ashli Babbit Award...

Supreme Team, the limited series directed by Nas and Peter Scalettar for Showtime, is mostly a strange effort. Fascination with the...

On the seventy-seventh anniversary of his birth, I recall the stunning epic poem, Jazz in Jail, by Louis Reyes Rivera. Robin Kelley...

Over his entire career, poet Quincy Troupe has expressed fascination with the idea of creation and the life cycle. His first volume,...

I have not agreed with John McWhorter on much, particularly regarding his ignorant remarks about the admission policies of specialized...

Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys obviously has much to recommend it. A gripping tale about an African American youth trying to come of...

Fred Foss probably won’t get a birthday tribute on radio as do many other jazz musicians. But he deserves a tribute from us. See, Freddy,...

As is frequently noted, one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist. One’s suicide bomber is another’s homicide bomber....

After having the privilege of conversing with Haki Madhubuti and Joanne Gabbin this past Wednesday at the 16th National Black Writers...

Way behind because of personal matters, I wanted to post this last month. These remarks, made when the book first appeared, still ring...