#Lift Every Voice with Writing
We are pleased to welcome creative writer, scholar, oral history storyteller, and performing artist Dr. Kitty Oliver to Jax Book Fest "Writer's Day" on Friday, September 20, for a thought-provoking, entertaining journey through the complexities of collecting, writing, and preserving the stories and histories of marginalized communities today.
Dr. Kitty Oliver is an author, oral historian, media producer, and recording artist as well as a former journalist and university writing professor. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and a Ph.D.in Comparative Studies focusing on race and ethnic communication and gender studies. The memoir Multicolored Memories of a Black Southern Girl chronicles growing up in Jacksonville during segregation, and living an integrated life and her collections of oral histories which have served as models for community oral history projects throughout Florida and other states.
ORAL HISTORY 101 WITH DR. KITTY OLIVER
Writer's Lab: Writing Stories, Lifting Voices, Sharing Lives workshop with Dr. Kitty Oliver on Friday, September 20, from 4 - 5 p.m. in the Hicks Auditorium in the Conference Center at the Main Library. This program is made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
This workshop blends memories, music, research, and reflections from a cross-cultural selection of narrators, and offers strategies of the Lift Every Voice Writing Project for building bridges across races and cultures in communities.
Her appearance is also part of the Library's project to grow the African American History Collection and associated digital Community Archive, funded by a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. For more local African American History community programs coming up in this fall, visit bit.ly/AfricanAmericanHistoryJax.
MORE ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Dr. Kitty Oliver's books, as well as her public television productions and radio webcasts on Race and Change, have been used widely by schools and colleges and in the Lift Every Voice Writing Project community presentations that she conducts nationally. She is founder of the landmark cross-cultural Race and Change Initiative oral history archive in Special Collections at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale and in the American Folklife Center’s Civil Rights Project. The archive features life histories and racial experiences of over 125 self-described Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Latinos, Caribbeans, and Asians living in Florida.
Dr. Oliver’s work has been featured on CNN, and she shares Race and Change memories in the Ron Howard documentary film on the Beatles “Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years” and the film “Oscar Peterson Black + White,” both streaming on Hulu. www.kittyoliveronline.com.
#Book Recommendations
#Jax Book Fest 2024: Writer's Day
Join us starting Friday, September 20 from 12 - 5 p.m. at the Main Library for a two-day celebration of great books, fantastic authors, and all things reading! In between workshops, you'll also have the opportunity to network with fellow writers and writer's groups. We'll also be joined by three #1 New York Times bestselling authors, dozens of Jacksonville-based authors, and a few Florida Writer's Groups for Reader's Day on Saturday, September 21, from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Read more at jaxlibrary.org/bookfest.
More Writer's Lab Workshops
- Writer's Lab: Poetry Unleashed (Building Bonds Through Verse)
- Workshop with Taryn "Love Reigns" Wharwood from 12 - 1:30 p.m.
- Explore self-expression and collaboration through poetry
- Writer's Lab: Sense of Place & Identity in Immigrant Fiction
- Workshop with Sohrab Homi Fracis from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
- Evoke the homeland left behind and the protagonist's new land
- Expand sense of self or identity to accommodate both settings
- Writer's Lab: Visual Storytelling
- Workshop with featured author Vashti Harrison from 2:30 - 4 p.m.
- Hands-on workshop, seating limited
Self-Publishing Workshops
Our partners at Biblioboard will be offering FREE one-hour, hands-on workshops on how to format and publish your manuscript using Pressbooks. With this FREE online tool, you can submit your e-book to the Florida Indie Author Collection or get your manuscript ready for on-demand printing. Pressbooks is a great option if you want complete control over your own content or the ability to collaborate with other authors and editors.
Choose the time that works best for you: 12 - 1 p.m., 2-3 p.m., 4-5 p.m. You can use the Library's computers to follow along or feel free to bring your own laptop.
Networking & Resources for Writers
Looking to make friends with and learn from other authors? Need help getting your manuscript ready to print? From accountability partners and feedback on each other's works-in-progress to writing tips and advice for avoiding pitfalls and navigating the publishing (and self-publishing) worlds... Whatever genre you're working in, there's a writer's group that's right for you!
Drop by the Conference Level anytime between 12 - 5 p.m. on Friday, September 20, for networking and resources. We'll be joined by representatives from Authors Roundtable of Northeast Florida, First Coast Romance Writers, Women Writing for (a) Change Jacksonville, Mystery Writers of America Florida Chapter, and others.
