MOSAIC LITERARY CONFERENCE: QUEER
Nov 20, 2021

This year, the Mosaic Literary Conference focuses on queer identity and presents an inclusive space to explore race, gender, and sexuality.

MLC2021 will use the lives of two seminal thinkers and activists as an entry point to explore queer identity and its exploration through books, culture, and education. This year, June Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) would have been 85 years old. The conference will use the life of the poet, scholar, and activist, as a way to further explore queer identity and how her writing and identity are refracted through her literary production and critical thinking. The conference will also be influenced by the life of Pauli Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985). Murray was a civil rights activist who became a lawyer, a women's rights activist, Episcopal priest, and author. Drawn to the ministry, in 1977, Murray was the first African-American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest, in the first year that any women were ordained by that church.

These two queer activists will serve as a touchstone for the development of the conference, lesson plans, and discussion groups; and invite additional explorations of contemporary queer writers and cultural workers.

Conference Participants: Rae Leone Allen • Stephanie Alvarado • Nissy Aya • Marci Blackman • Tasha Dougé • Dreamseed Collective > Blaise Sparda - Maliika Nia-Imani - Malanya Graham • Tanya Fields • Beryl Briane Ford • Kamaria J. Hodge • LaMonda Horton-Stallings • Briona Simone Jones • Jamilah King • Roya Marsh • Bl3ssing Oshun Ra • Mecca Jamilah Sullivan • Ash Williams | FULL BIOS

Conference Schedule

12pm-12:20pm
Intro Videos of June Jordan and Pauli Murray

12:20pm-12:30pm
Introduction and Land Acknowledgement

12:30pm-12:55pm
Visibility Within Spirituality
Dreamseed Collective (Malanya Graham, Maliika Nia-Imani, & Blaise Sparda)

1:00-1:10pm
Poetry Performance by Roya Marsh

1:15pm-1:55pm
Exploring the Architexture of Queer
Panelists: Tanya Fields (she/her/they/them) and Beryl Briane Ford (she/her)
Moderator: Tasha Dougé (she/her)

2pm-2:40pm
The Me in Memoir Playwriting with Jei and Nissy
Panelists: Janelle (Jei) Lawrence (they/them/elle) and Nissy Aya (she/ze/we)

2:45pm-3:35pm
Keynote Conversation: Creating Our Own Political Narratives and Histories
Keynote Speaker: Jamilah King (they/them)
Moderator: Briona Simone Jones

3:40pm-4:20pm
Our Wholeness Will Be Televised
Panelists: Kamaria Hodge, Golden Boi Productions, and Rae Leone Allen (she/they)

4:25pm-4:55pm
Trans Liberation: Increasing communication between abolitionists outside and inside through media mail
Moderator: Ash Williams (he/him)

5pm-5:40pm
The Poetics of Difference: Queer Feminist Forms in the African Diaspora
Panelists: Marci Blackman and LaMonda Horton-Stallings (no image)
Moderator: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

5:40pm-5:50pm
Performance: Bl3ssing Oshun Ra
"The Affirmation/Elegy for the Dolls Who Fly"

5:50-6pm: Closing