September is National Literacy Month. In celebration of National Literacy Month, Texas Literacy Connection Corporation (TLC), in collaboration with The Dock Bookshop and Friends of Cobb Park, will host the 4th Annual DFW Literary SoulFEST Saturday, September 29, 2012. The event will be along Cobb Park Drive West at the New Cobb Park, one of the oldest and largest parks in Fort Worth that was completely refurbished in 2012, in which, Fort Worth Parks & Community Services Department dedicated $4 million to improvements. The goal of this festival is to advocate, promote, and celebrate literary arts and literacy and bring community awareness to issues concerning our youth, health, environment, and economy as well as support the mission of TLC - building reading skills and transforming lives.
TLC is dedicated to creative and innovative actions to promote literacy based on the National Literacy Act of 1991 definition of literacy: "an individual's ability to read, write and speak in English and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society to achieve one's goals and develop one's knowledge and potential." DFW Literary SoulFEST brings together the novice reader, authors, publishers, poets, writers, artists, book clubs, avid readers, scholars, families, students, educators, aspiring actors/actresses, organizations, churches and businesses. From this collective energy, we hope to cultivate new readers and enlighten seasoned readers in the surrounding communities. This event was founded by Donya Craddock, Donna Craddock and Dominique Johnson, owners of The Dock Bookshop.
Why A Literary Celebration Octavia Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. In 1979, she published Kindred, a novel that uses the science-fiction staple of time travel to explore slavery in the United States. The literary expression of African Americans has always been a tale of life realities whether dealing with historical experiences in science fiction or love in romance. Literary works, like music, have become a tool that reflects the African-American experience from one generation to the next generation. This legacy continues by us creating and/or reclaiming and maintaining a literate environment. To understand and appreciate literacy is to understand the African American literacy and literary history beginning in Africa as cradle of civilization and the birthplace of the written word script that pre-dates our Latin-based writing system of standard contemporary English. Ancient Egypt along the Nile River valley, the Nubian of the Eastern Sudan and the Axumites of the Ethiopia highlands had their own forms of writing. In the case of Egypt (Kemet) hieroglyphics were in use by 3300BCE. (continued on page 2)
In this Guide: Why A Literary Celebration, 1-2 Event Highlights, 2 Literary Parade Grand Marshals, 3 Authors & Presentations, 4 Event Schedule, 5 Upcoming Events, 6 Businesses & Supporters, 7-8