Award-winning author and literary activist Marita Golden will visit Richmond on Friday, May 2, for a reading and book signing of her latest work, “How to Become a Black Writer: Creating and Honoring Black Stories That Matter.”

The program is scheduled for 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library's Main Branch.

Golden will be joined by literary scholar Daryl Cumber Dance, professor emerita at the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, who will interview the author following the reading.

  

Part literary memoir, part cultural history and part guide for aspiring writers, “How to Become a Black Writer” reflects on Golden’s four-decade career as a writer, teacher and co-founder of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation. The book offers insight into the experiences and influences that have shaped her work and her commitment to elevating Black voices in literature.

A graduate of American University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Golden has taught creative writing at several institutions including George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University and Virginia Commonwealth University. She has lectured internationally and authored more than 20 works of fiction and nonfiction.

Her accolades include the Barnes and Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers, the Distinguished Service Award from the Authors Guild and induction into the International Literary Hall of Fame of Writers of African Descent. Dance, known for her contributions to folklore and Caribbean literature studies, is the author of numerous works including “Honey, Hush!,” “Shuckin’ and Jivin’” and “In Search of Annie Drew.” 

In recent years, she also has turned to fiction and memoir, with her latest work, “Remembering Paule: A Photo Memoir of Her Richmond Years,” published in 2023.