Schedule unveiled for Cleveland Book Week 2022, highlighted by the in-person return of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony at the Maltz Performing Arts Center

87th class of winners will also be featured in Nov. 3 documentary-style production

Release Date: 8.16.2022

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Foundation today announced the schedule for the seventh annual Cleveland Book Week. This year’s showcase – which marks a return to in-person events – will celebrate present and past Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA) winners over the distinguished 87-year history of the prize. The far-ranging programs will all be held in-person for the first time since 2019, and nearly all are free to the community.

Anchoring the events is the 87th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony, which will be held for the first time at the Maltz Performing Arts Center at Case Western Reserve University on Thursday, Sept. 15. In addition, the accompanying documentary highlighting the 2022 recipients – hosted by AWBA Jury Chair Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. – will debut Nov. 3 on WVIZ/PBS and throughout Ohio’s public television network. This marks the third year of the collaboration, which saw the 2021 version air on more than 140 PBS stations nationwide.

The book awards remain the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and explores human diversity. The 2022 honorees are:

  • Percival Everett, “The Trees,” Fiction
  • Donika Kelly, “The Renunciations,” Poetry
  • George Makari, “Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia,” Nonfiction
  • Tiya Miles, “All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake,” Nonfiction
  • Ishmael Reed, Lifetime Achievement

“We are thrilled to announce a rich array of new and returning partners to present the most diverse and ambitious book week since the idea began here,” said Karen R. Long, manager of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards for the Cleveland Foundation. “We’re grateful to Literary Cleveland and the Great Lakes African American Writers Conference for bookending the calendar with their gatherings. We can’t wait to welcome readers to these events.”

The Cleveland Foundation and Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are presenting Cleveland Book Week in partnership with the African American Doll & Quilt Guild, Black Environmental Leaders, Case Western Reserve University, The City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Great Lakes African American Writers Conference, Lakeview Cemetery, LGBTQ Center of Greater Cleveland, Literary Cleveland, Near West Theatre, Praxis Fiber Workshop, and St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church.

For more information on Cleveland Book Week (#CBW2022) and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (#AWBA2022), including ongoing updates, visit anisfield-wolf.org.

Events scheduled for Cleveland Book Week 2022 include:

* Please note that masks will be required for in-person attendees at all Cleveland Book Week events.

Thursday, Aug. 25

Book Discussion: “All That She Carried” by Tiya Miles (2022 AWBA Nonfiction Winner)

6 p.m., Warrensville Heights Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library

Before Cleveland Book Week officially begins, join Praxis Fiber Arts and the African American Doll and Quilt Guild for a discussion of Tiya Miles’ Anisfield-Wolf award-winning book, “All That She Carried,” the story of an embroidered cotton sack passed down through generations of Black American women, from enslavement to freedom.

Registration: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/7056481

Sept. 6-10

Literary Cleveland’s Inkubator Conference

Inkubator Writing Conference will officially kick off the 2022 Cleveland Book Week, with online literary panels running Sept. 6-8. The in-person component returns to the downtown Cleveland Public Library Sept. 9-10. The organization will hold free writing workshops, panel discussions, craft talks, readings and more to empower writers, advance artistic dialogue, celebrate literary excellence, and amplify local voices. 2022 speakers include Ross Gay and Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

Registration: https://inkubator.litcleveland.org/

Wednesday, Sept. 14

Donika Kelly and “The Renunciations” (2022 AWBA Poetry Winner)

4 p.m.; LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland (6705 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, OH 44102)

Join us to explore the intersection of self-reflection, creativity and healing from trauma with author of “The Renunciations,” Donika Kelly.

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/donika-kelly-and-the-renunciations-cleveland-book-week-2022-tickets-397301007007

A Reckoning with Shared History: Lynching and Percival Everett’s “The Trees” (2022 AWBA Fiction Winner)

6 p.m., St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church (10205 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, OH 44111)

Join Black Environmental Leaders and Percival Everett in a one-of-a-kind community event, honoring work by area activists to memorialize the 1911 lynching of Jim Jordon in Cleveland.

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-reckoning-with-shared-history-lynching-and-percival-everetts-the-trees-tickets-398945295117

Thursday, Sept. 15

87th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

6 p.m., Maltz Performing Arts Center at Case Western Reserve University (1855 Ansel Rd., Cleveland, OH 44106)

Registration (opens Aug. 15): https://case.edu/maltzcenter/node/1561

Watch the ceremony live via webstream at www.anisfield-wolf.org.

The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognize books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and human diversity. It remains the only American book prize focusing on works that address racism and equity. For nearly 90 years, the distinguished books earning Anisfield-Wolf prizes have opened and challenged our minds. 

Friday, Sept. 16

Life and Literature of “America’s Most Fearless Satirist,” Ishmael Reed (2022 AWBA Lifetime Achievement)

11:30 a.m., The City Club of Cleveland (850 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44114)

The New Yorker called Ishmael Reed “a founding father of American multiculturalism” and “America’s most fearless satirist.” This year, the multilingual poet, publisher, novelist, playwright, cartoonist and lyricist becomes an Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards lifetime achievement honoree. He will speak at The City Club of Cleveland’s Friday Forum to discuss his life and career.

In-Person Registration (you may also watch online for free beginning at noon): https://www.cityclub.org/forums/2022/09/16/life-and-literature-of-americas-most-fearless-satirist-ishmael-reed

“Of Fear and Strangers”: Author George Makari (2022 AWBA Nonfiction Winner)

3 p.m., Cleveland Botanical Garden (11030 East Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44106

Join us as we welcome George Makari in a conversation on xenophobia with Case Western Reserve University Department of History Chair and Theodore J. Castele Professor, Dr. Jonathan Sadowsky. Makari is a historian, psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, whose “Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia” was a Bloomberg Best Nonfiction Book of 2021.

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/of-fear-and-strangers-author-george-makari-for-cleveland-book-week-tickets-399032836957

An Evening with Victoria Chang (2021 AWBA Poetry Winner)

5 p.m., Lake View Cemetery (12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106)

Join the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, the Cleveland Foundation and Lake View Cemetery as we celebrate in the cemetery’s Community Mausoleum for a reading and book signing of Victoria Chang’s award-winning poetry collection, “Obit.”

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-victoria-chang-author-of-obit-tickets-398966468447

Sept. 17-18

Great Lakes African American Writers Conference

Main Library, Cleveland Public Library, Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium (325 Superior Ave., Cleveland, OH 44114)

The series of Book Week programs will be capped off by the Great Lakes African American Writers Conference on Sept. 17, which will relocate this year to its new home at the Cleveland Public Library Main Branch in downtown Cleveland. The conference will feature the prolific award-winning author Walter Mosley (1998 AWBA Fiction Winner) as the Langston Hughes Literary Keynote, along with free music, spoken word, lectures, panel discussions and much more celebrating the African and African American literary arts. Additionally, a Sunday brunch on Sept. 18 features two-time James Beard Award-winning culinary author Toni Tipton-Martin and local celebrity chef Eric Wells.

Registration: https://www.glaawc.us/

Thursday, Nov. 3

Ideastream Public Media PBS documentary: “The 87th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards”

9 p.m., on WVIZ/PBS, concurrent with website streaming and other PBS broadcasts

The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognize books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and human diversity. It remains the only American book prize focusing on works that address racism and equity. For nearly 90 years, the distinguished books earning Anisfield-Wolf prizes have opened and challenged our minds.

For more information: https://www.ideastream.org/

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