Showcase of African American Authors at MDC

One of the little known secrets of Miami Dade College (MDC) is the wealth of literary talent that we have. For the past thirty years, MDC has hired many writers to work in English departments or has been an incubator of talent through the Florida Center for Literary Arts and the Miami Book Fair International.

On Monday, February 6, 2008, I was privileged to introduce Joseph McNair, Sam Grant, and Preston Allen, during our Showcase of African American Authors at MDC. The Black History Month Committee had planned to highlight many more of our authors, but many of them had conflicts with their teaching schedules. (Did I also mention many are committed teachers?)

The standing room only event was held at the Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center, named after one of the great heroes of Miami life and politics, Carrie P. Meek, who was also present at our ceremony honoring another Miami legend, Garth C.Reeves, publisher of the Miami Times.

The truly inspirational evening of stories about rebirth and transformation, as Professor Joseph McNair rightly noted, began with a reading from Ose Sango. But before he commenced, Professor McNair gave an introduction to African cosmogony and the work of scholars such as Cheikh Anta Diop and Ivan van Sertima. Professor McNair then gave a brief history of his novel which began as a series of short stories about the way that Africans look at the world. The students listened intently as Joe read from his coming-of-age novel about a young man who wakes up one day to discover that he is a reincarnation of the Orisha Sango.

Next, Sam Grant took the podium and the students were fascinated with his story about his graphic novel as well as the novel itself. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. This was my notebook,” he explained. But what began a minor project in 1987 that he shared with five friends began growing when he posted it on his website from 5,000, 9000, 12,000, 15,000 to 37,000 hits per day on July 17, 2005. After dealing with problems with his server and bandwidth issues, Sam finally published his graphic novel, The Opposite Sex.

It’s always a pleasure to hear Preston Allen read, and Monday night was no different. Preston read from his latest novel, All or Nothing, about P., the degenerate but loveable gambler. The students were intrigued by the twists in the plot and the mastery of scene and voice that he displayed in what I like to call the “lucky son” section.

When it came time for the Q&A, the students and teachers were ready. Many in the audience wanted to know how these professors balanced work with writing, and it was Professor McNair who gave the most cogent answer: “You keep on writing. They turn off your light. You keep on writing. They turn off your water. You keep on writing. They take away your car. You keep on writing.” The audience nodded in silent assent, and came up later to congratulate these authors on their accomplishments.

To view photos of the event, please follow this link: Showcase of African American Authors at MDC.

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