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LAWRENCE -- Organizers of the "Langston Hughes: Let America Be America Again" international symposium have received a grant from the law offices of Shook, Hardy and Bacon of Kansas City, Mo., to support a series of poetry circles that will follow and expand on the symposium.
"Shook, Hardy and Bacon's generous support of this celebration of Langston Hughes and his contributions to our understanding of our diverse national heritage is deeply appreciated," said Maryemma Graham, symposium director at the University of Kansas.
About 500 people are expected to attend the Feb. 7 to 10 symposium in the Kansas Union. KU and the Langston Hughes Society of Athens, Ga., are sponsoring events that will bring in more than 75 speakers from the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker will give a pre-symposium lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, at the Lied Center. Acclaimed actor Danny Glover begins the symposium at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, with a Lied Center performance.
"Hughes believed that poetry is one of the most powerful ways of connecting a divided world, of healing the spirit and soul and of inspiring vision," Graham said. "The poetry circles will extend the symposium to other Kansas communities, and we hope eventually to become a national project."
The symposium Web site includes a poetry circle page that uses streaming audio and print formats to replicate discussions of four Hughes texts in the first poetry circle in Lawrence in fall 2001. The poetry circle page also encourages browsers to enter their favorite Langston Hughes poem and discuss why that poem appeals to them.
The Shook, Hardy and Bacon gift was made to the Langston Hughes Symposium Fund at the KU Endowment Association.
Hughes would have been 100 on Feb. 1. He left a literary legacy of poetry, novels, plays and children's stories the range of which is unmatched in American literature, Graham said. In his lifetime, Hughes was largely ignored by the literary establishment. Today, however, he is recognized as perhaps the greatest popular American poet since Walt Whitman.
Symposium speakers will cover Hughes' poetry, his critics, the places he lived from the Midwest to Moscow, his ability as a writer to span generational interests from blues to bop to hip-hop, race and his role in the Harlem Renaissance. The program includes a special workshop for teachers and visits to local schools by five symposium poets.
Registration information for the KU conference and details on the Lawrence community events celebrating Hughes' centennial year are available online. Information is also available by calling KU Continuing Education toll free at (877) 404-5823 or (785) 864-5823.
Arrangements for the appearance of Danny Glover were made through Greater Talent Network, Inc., New York, N.Y.
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