The “Songs of My People” art exhibition, featuring fifteen new works by Savannah and New York artist Luther E. Vann, celebrated co-creator of the landmark art and poetry book ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love opened November 11 at Penn Center’s York W. Bailey Museum on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. “Songs of My People,” which will remain on exhibition until January 7, 2012, is Vann’s first major art exhibit since his triumphant ELEMENTAL show at the Telfair Museum’s Jepson Center for the Arts in Savannah, Georgia, in 2008. The event is part of Penn Center’s Heritage Days celebration. Vann has been honored as the 2011 Heritage Days Featured Artist, a distinction which places him in the company of such previous honorees as: James Denmark, Diane Britton-Dunham, Allen Fireall , Amiri Geuka Farris, Jonathan Green, and the artist called “Saint.” Please click the link to read more : Songs of My People art exhibition opens at Penn Center - National African-American Art...

  Official U.N. logo for the 2011 International Year for People of African Descent . With revolutions in the Middle East and the United States’ current Occupy Wall Street movement dominating media reports throughout 2011, the International Year for People of African Descent as declared by the United Nations has received little attention but that didn’t stop the traveling photo exhibition “WoMen in Africa - No Color One Color," from launching November 2 at the Italian Institute of Culture in Nairobi, Kenya. The show marked the second major exhibition within two weeks to launch in honor of the International Year for People of African Descent . A multimedia display of works by different artists and photographers, “The African Continuum: Celebrating Diversity, Recognizing Contributions of People of African Descent”, opened at the U.N. Headquarters in New York City on October 19. For that occasion, Time Magazine photographer Chester Higgins Jr. addressed attendees on behalf ...

The novel Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World in the iBookstore. The iTunes Store recently added three titles, each in a different literary category, by the American author Aberjhani to its iBookstore, making it possible for the first time to download the books and read them on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. The titles include: the paranormal suspense novel Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World ; the travel memoir The American Poet Who Went Home Again ; and the poetry collection The Bridge of Silver Wings (newly updated in hard copy as The River of Winged Dreams ). “I’m usually too immersed in current projects to realize the significance of such a great development right away,” said the author. “So you’ll never hear me claim to be the most techno-savvy writer on the planet, which is why I’m always glad when the work that I stay so busy producing manages to make a place for itself in the world and others welcome it there as well.” In addition to hi...

A poet named Adonis. ( photo courtesy of Mideast Post ) Considering that Sweden has hosted the Nobel Prize Awards for more than a century and until Thursday had not presented one of its own authors with the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1974 (to Eyvind Johnson), the world can hardly blame the awards committee for presenting this year’s prize to poet Tomas Transtromer. Along with the Syrian poet Adonis, Transtromer was among the top ten authors favored by Britain’s Ladbrokes betting agency as a likely win. Transtromer, according to the agency, was an 8-1 favorite while Adonis was favored 4-1. The poets are also close in age, with the Swede born 1931 and the Syrian in 1930. However, Transtromer became the 104th recipient of the award by virtue of what the prize committee recognized as the following: “ through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality." Transtromer has published volumes of acclaimed works in both his native tongue and in translat...