WATERBURY, Conn. – The Arts and Humanities Division at Naugatuck Valley Community College will host editors Alice Bernstein & Lionel Bascom at “Found Literature: Writer’
Alice Bernstein, a journalist and aesthetic realism associate, will discuss her discovery of and work on the previously unpublished Ossie Davis play, The People of Clarendon County, with an emphasis on education as an end to racism.
Western Connecticut State University professor, Lionel Bascom, will speak about his latest book release, The Last Leaf of Harlem, a collection of short stories by Dorothy West, who was the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance.
The presentations, along with a question and answer session, will take place from 11:20 to 1 p.m. A writer’s workshop and Open Mic will be held from 2:30 to 4 p.m. A $10 luncheon and book signing is also available by RSVP only, and will be held between the two sessions.
Bernstein’s articles and regular column appear nationwide and in Aesthetic Realism and the Answer to Racism (2004). She is a contributing writer to African American National Biography, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (2008), and is working on an oral history project and documentary of interviews with unsung heroes, “The Force of Ethics in Civil Rights.”
A long-time investigative journalist, Bascom has specialized in the discovery of forgotten or neglected literary manuscripts by early 20th Century African-Americans, black folklore and stories about black culture in the United States. He is the editor of A Renaissance in Harlem and lives in Danbury, Connecticut.
The conference will be held at the NVCC Playbox Theater, which is located on the college’s main campus, 750 Chase Parkway, Waterbury. It is free and open to the public.
For more information or to RSVP, contact conference coordinator, Beth-Ann Scott, at (203) 596-2199 or bscott@nvcc.commnet.edu.
Naugatuck Valley Community College serves approximately10,000 credit and non-credit students across western Connecticut. The college is a non-residential institution, located at the intersection of Route 8 and Interstate 84, with more than 100 accredited programs leading to associate degrees or professional certification. Please visit us at http://www.nvcc.commnet.edu .
