National Black Writers Conference 2025 Biennial Symposium

The Center for Black Literature’s National Black Writers Conference Biennial Symposium (NBWC2025) returns, and we are honoring Black Young Adult & Middle Grade Literature titans Tony Medina and Rita Williams-Garcia! The Keynote Conversation and Award ceremony will be moderated by Jacqueline Woodson. Other confirmed participating Young Adult/Middle Grade writers include: Derrick Barnes, Ibi Zoboi, Oluegbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, and Tracey Baptiste, among others.

This Symposium, a culturally enriched literary gathering of writers, educators, literary professionals and the general public, specifically targets Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade (MG) Literature by Black authors, a genre that has expanded over the last two decades. This genre serves as an energizing force for cultivating and nurturing the critical reading and writing habits of a cross-generation of readers and writers, helps to affirm students’ self-esteem, literacy, identity, and awareness of the contributions of literature by Black writers.