greater Roxbury book Festival returns for a second year
The Greater Roxbury Book Festival returns for its second year on Saturday as a celebration of writers and reading, with spotlights on local writers and attention on igniting excitement about books for reluctant readers. Ibram x. Kendi will give the opening keynote at noon, discussing his writing process, his nonfiction work, and what keeps him grounded. Caldecott winner Ekua Holmes, who grew up in Roxbury, will discuss her latest picture book, “Coretta: The Autobiography of Mrs. Coretta Scott King.” Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola will lead a poetry workshop; LJ Baptiste and Jonathan Todd will lead a workshop on creating comics; Art Collins will lead a poetry workshop; poet and Roxbury native Abria Smith will discuss character creation as a tool for selfexpression and trauma release; Jabari Asim, director of the creative writing MFA program at Emerson, will lead a fiction workshop; Denise Washington and Valerie Foxx will celebrate Phillis Wheatley; Carlos Hernandez and Phoebe Sinclair will talk creativity and fictional adventures; and Jacqueline Woodson, author of “Brown Girl Dreaming” which won the national Book Award, will give the closing keynote. The festival takes place May 18 from noon-5 p.m. at the Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library, 149 Dudley St., Boston. Admission is free.