Black Ink announces lineup for free online event
Black Ink: A Charleston African American Book Festival, set for Jan. 14-16, 2021, will feature Kwame Mbalia as its keynote speaker. Mbalia is author of the middle-grade novel “Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky” and its sequel, “Tristan Strong Destroys the World.”
The festival, which will be held online because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, also will feature Instagram influencer Jeanell Marvin, author Kiley Reid and Nicole Johnson, executive director of We Need Diverse Books.
Topics of panels and workshops will include how to market your writing project, what’s involved in self-publishing, the need to advocate for Black voices, how calls for diversity are changing the publishing sector, and more.
For the full program, go to https://www.blackinkcharleston.org/agenda. This will be the fifth Black Ink festival, hosted by Charleston Friends of the Library in partnership with the Charleston County Public Library.
The free event features dozens of African American authors, most from the Lowcountry and surrounding areas.
Registration for featured authors costs $75 and is open until Jan. 4. Participants can connect with authors on the event’s virtual platform.
—Adam Parker
