Join us as we celebrate the interplay between music and literature. The event begins with short readings by featured authors and song writers who all have literary ties to music. A brief panel discussion will be moderated by Kristina Gaddy, an award-winning writer who believes in the power of narrative nonfiction to bring stories from the past to life in order to inform the world we live in today. In 2018, Kristina received a Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Ruby's Artist Award for Well of Souls, a literary exploration of the little known history of the banjo in the Americas, its role as a a spiritual device in the hands of enslaved Africans, and the instrument's legacy in today’s culture and society.
The panel will also feature Zakiah Baker. Baker is a writer residing in Southern Maryland and the author of To Be Her. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore. She has an interest in historic and generational perspectives of black girlhood and womanhood. As a singer and lover of music, Zakiah's work also has threads of sound and music. Although her work is inspired by true events, Zakiah decided to become a fiction writer because she finds great pleasure in allowing her imagination to take full control of her stories.
The audience will then engage in a workshop style songwriting exploration led by Talia Segal, in which participants will have the opportunity to write their own songs, all abilities welcome. Segal has been singing for as long as she can remember. When she was a little kid, she picked up a pencil, started writing, and hasn't stopped, since. She grew up a little, grabbed a guitar, and realized that she could combine her love of music, singing, and writing in exciting and gratifying ways. This led to several years of almost non-stop songwriting and touring around the country; playing coffee shops, college cafeterias, and farmers markets. In that time, she released 3 albums of original material. Segal has earned a degree in songwriting from Berklee College of Music, in Boston. Her original songs have won first place in the Hazel Dickens Songwriting Contest, and have been finalists in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, the Telluride Troubadour Songwriting Contest, the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriters' Showcase, and the Mid Atlantic Songwriting Contest. She's currently recording her fifth studio album, which is due for release next year.
Absolutely no experience necessary in order to participate, young adults and families welcome.
The event will conclude with music by panelists.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1156492387871665/
November 3, 2019, 6-7pm
Atomic Books
3620 Falls Road
Baltimore Md
21211
This event is brought to you by:
Free Fall Baltimore is presented by BGE, and is a program of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization.