Local authors, poets, artists gather to recite works of Detroit’s first Poet Laureate
Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 4pm

Dudley Randall

the Arts League of Michigan will host a special poetry reading in tribute to Dudley Randall, Detroit’s first poet laureate and founder of Broadside Press. The event will be held at the Virgil H. Carr Cultural Center, located at 311 E. Grand River in downtown Detroit’s Paradise Valley (formerly known as the Harmonie Park district).

The event is free and open to the public. Guests will enjoy an evening of presentations of poetry and fiction from Roses and Revolutions: The Selected Writings of Dudley Randall, edited with an introduction by Melba Joyce Boyd. Ms. Boyd, a distinguished university professor and chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Wayne State University, and adjunct professor at the Center for Afro-american and African Studies at the University of Michigan, will make remarks and sign copies of her book.

Scheduled presenters for the evening include: Naomi Long Madgett, current poet laureate of Detroit; Bill Harris, nationally renowned playwright and poet; M. L. Liebler, poet and coeditor of Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry 2001; Wardell Montgomery, poet and friend of Randall; Leslie Reese, Broadside Press poet; Terry Blackhawk, poet and founder of the Inside Out Literary Project; Shirley Woodson Reid, visual artist and illustrator of the book cover; Barbara Cox, director of the Societie for the Culturally Concerned; Barton Lessin, Wayne State University librarian; Professor Todd Duncan of Wayne State University, and Professor Frank Rashid of Marygrove College.

Published by Wayne State University Press, Roses and Revolutions is part of the African American Life Series. As editor, Ms. Boyd masterfully presents Dudley Randall’s most popular poems, and his lesser-known short stories which were first published in The Negro Digest during the 1960s. The collection also includes several of his essays, which profoundly influenced the direction and attitude of the Black Arts movement. While Randall published six books of poetry during his life, much of his work is currently out of print or fragmented among numerous anthologies.

In addition to the poetry reading, the evening will include film clips featuring Dudley Randall reading his poetry. The DVD of the documentary film, “The Black Unicorn: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press,” will be available at the discounted price of $9.95 with purchase of the book, Roses and Revolutions ($27.95).