Black Women Writers Dissecting Globalization:

An International Conference on Literature by Women of
African Ancestry

NYU, Kimmel Center for University Life

60 Washington Square South

Organization of Women Writers of Africa

October 12-16, 2004

It's a small world after all, as the growing buzz
surrounding the concept of globalization makes clearer
by the day. However, the people of the African diaspora
have experienced its beauty and ugliness for centuries,
chronicled in Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka's tragic
tales of British colonialism, Alain Locke and Frantz
Fanon's scrutinies of blackness on a world stage, and
the lives of Richard Wright and James Baldwin, expats
criticizing a culture that rejected and humiliated
them. With few exceptions, males have dominated this
early examination of blackness on a global scale.From October 12 through 16, however, female writers
from across the African diaspora will come together to
celebrate and dissect their own contributions to the
discussion of globalization. Alice Walker, Maya
Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Maryse Condé head an all-
star cast of scholars, authors, and artists.

The event, co-sponsored by NYU's Institute of African
American Affairs and Africana Studies Program and the
Organization of Women Writers of Africa Inc. (OWWA),
will discuss globalization from a female perspective,
as well as the impact of dislocation, terrorism, and
new technology on literature, publishing, and the
creative process. The conference is open to the public,
and will be available to participants nationally and
internationally via webcast, proving that we truly do
have the world at our fingertips.