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Harlem Writers Guild At 75: Diane Richards On Legacy, Literature, And The Renaissance
Description
HWM Podcast ushers in the new year with a milestone celebration—the 75th anniversary of the iconic Harlem Writers Guild.
Joining us for this special conversation is Diane Richards, Executive Director of the Guild, alongside Eartha Watts-Hicks, Harlem World Magazine’s Executive Editor and Guild member.
Founded in the wake of the Committee for the Negro in the Arts’ closing in the late 1940s, the Harlem Writers Guild emerged as a vital space where African-American voices could shape, refine, and elevate their craft within a literary landscape that long ignored them. Its mission—to illuminate the experiences of the African diaspora through the written word—continues to resonate today.
Over the decades, the Guild has stood at the cultural crossroads of Black expression, contributing powerfully to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and nurturing literary giants such as Lonne Elder III, Douglas Turner Ward, Ossie Davis, Paule Marshall, Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou, and Sarah E. Wright.
In this episode, we honor the Guild’s extraordinary legacy—and explore how its mission endures at the heart of Harlem’s creative renaissance.
Eartha Watts-Hicks
Eartha Watts Hicks is a Harlem World Magazine contributing Book Editor the award-winning author of Love Changes, a member of the Harlem Writers Guild, and a New York City literacy ambassador for NYCHA/NAACP. For more information, visit www.earthaton.com.
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