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Contact: Maryemma Graham, (785) 864-2557; Bill Tuttle, (785) 864-9476; Barbara Watkins, (785) 864-7881; or Alison Watkins, Langston Hughes Poetry Project, (785) 864-7863.

City of Lawrence grants $7,000 for Langston Hughes symposium

LAWRENCE -- A $7,000 grant from the City of Lawrence will help provide scholarship vouchers for 200 Lawrence residents to attend a 2002 symposium at the University of Kansas to celebrate the life and work of Langston Hughes.

"We are deeply grateful for this grant. The city commission's support is a wonderful example of the community and the university coming together to honor America's premier public poet in his childhood hometown," said Maryemma Graham, one of the organizers for the KU symposium Jan. 31 and Feb. 7 to 10.

The "Langston Hughes: Let America Be America Again" symposium will include a lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker on Jan. 31 and an evening with acclaimed actor Danny Glover on Feb. 7, both at the Lied Center. More than 70 writers, artists, entertainers and scholars have been invited for the remainder of the symposium, Feb. 8 to 10, at the Kansas Union. About 500 people are expected to attend.

Lawrence Mayor Mike Rundle said: "The City of Lawrence is pleased to partner with KU, the Langston Hughes Society and other sponsors of the Hughes centennial symposium. The symposium and accompanying community events are a fitting and important tribute to this world-class writer who spent much of his childhood in Lawrence and who has immeasurably enriched our lives."

Lawrence residents interested in applying for a scholarship will find applications online at www.kuce.org/hughes or in program brochures available by calling (877) 404-5823 or (785) 864-5823.

Hughes, who died in 1967, would have been 100 on Feb. 1, 2002. He left a literary legacy of poetry, novels, plays and children's stories the range of which is nearly unmatched in American literature, Graham said. In his lifetime, Hughes was largely ignored by the literary establishment. Today, however, one publisher describes Hughes as the greatest popular American poet since Walt Whitman.

"Langston Hughes, who grew up in Lawrence, took his vision out to the world," Graham said. "For this centennial and homecoming celebration we are going to bring as much of that world as possible back to Lawrence."

Because Hughes was known as a poet of the people, the conference planners have sought funding to help make the conference a public event in Hughes' spirit. The conference will cost about $200,000.

Typically registration for conferences of this size run about $250 a person. Registration fees cover the cost of bringing in, for example, 75 writers, artists, entertainers and scholars.

Fund-raising efforts for the Langston Hughes symposium have made it possible to charge registration fees of $75, which provide for all sessions, including luncheons. After Jan. 18, registration will be $100.

The $50 scholarship vouchers will provide admission to all but two symposium sessions. The two luncheons and parking costs are not covered.

"We are still fund raising," Graham said. Sales from "Lawrence celebrates Langston" T-shirts sold in area bookstores continue to support the symposium. Conference planners include Graham; Bill Tuttle, KU professor of American studies; Nancy Hiebert, community liaison; and Barbara Watkins and Heather Hoy, both with KU Continuing Education.

Details about KU's conference and many Lawrence community events to celebrate Hughes' centennial year are available online at www.kuce.org/hughes.

Arrangements for the appearance of Danny Glover were made through Greater Talent Network Inc., New York, N.Y.