Fort Greene’s pen-wielding luminaries — we’re talking Colson Whitehead, Toure, and Nelson George — will be leaving their fortresses of literary solitude for the Summer Literary Festival next Saturday.
This year’s theme is “Fort Greene’s own” — so all the writers will come from a neighborhood that has always been blessed with talent, from Richard Wright, who wrote “Native Son” there to Marianne Moore, who composed her poems on Cumberland Street, to even Walt Whitman, who helped to build the park.
The New York Writers Coalition started the festival five years ago when the coalition moved into the neighborhood. Past participants have included Amiri Baraka and Jhumpa Lahiri.
Young adults and kids participating in six-week free writing workshop will read their work alongside the famous writers.
“Who knows which one will become the next Toure or Nelson George?” said Aaron Zimmerman, executive director of the New York Writers Coalition.
Summer Literary Festival at the monument in Fort Greene Park (enter at Myrtle Avenue and Washington Park), Saturday, Aug. 22 at 3 pm.
