PW: Black Literary Hall Of Fame Founded

In an effort to provide "black writers and their philosophies with proper acclaim," the Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent, a national organization honoring distinguished black authors, was founded by a group of black publishers and academics this past December at Chicago State University.

The Hall officially inducted 14 living writers -- 10 of whom attended the ceremony -- and 19 posthumous honorees at a ceremony held during the Eighth Annual Gwendolyn Brooks Writers' Conference on Black Literature and Creative Writing. The Hall of Fame was founded by Haki Madhubuti, p t and founder of Third World Press and chairman of the Hall's board of directors; Bennett J. Johnson, founder and CEO of Path Press and president of the Hall of Fame, and Dr. B.J. Bolden, director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing and executive vice-president of the Hall's board.

The living writers inducted were Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker Alexander (who passed away the following month), Amiri Baraka, Lerone Bennett, Lucille Clifton, Cyrus Colter, Thulani Davis, Mari Evans, Ernest Gaines, Nikki Giovanni, Toni Morrison, Dudley Randall, John A. Williams and August Wilson. Madhubuti was also inducted, having been selected in a surprise move by his peers.

Among the posthumous honorees were James Baldwin, W.E.B. Dubois, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Audre Lorde, Ann Petry, Jean Toomer, Dorothy West and Richard Wright.

Each year, two living and two deceased authors will be chosen by a panel of the Hall's board members. Board members include Lerone Bennett, senior editor of Ebony magazine; Paul Coates, president of Black Classic Press; and Dempsey J. Travis, author and president of Urban Research Press.

Currently the Hall is temporarily located on the CSU campus. But Madhubuti said that over the next decade the organization expects to raise about $10 million to construct a building to house both the Gwendolyn Brooks Center and the Hall of Fame. For more information, call (847) 424-1620.