Schedule:

12:00 p.m
Dock Street Theatre - $30
Nikki Giovanni With Tonya Matthews
A Conversation With Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni is a generation-defining poet, writer, and activist renowned for her five-decade career creating evocative works exploring themes of social justice and love, while captivating audiences with her conviction, humor, and devotion to telling her truth as a Black woman. Charleston Literary Festival is collaborating with the International African American Museum (IAAM) demonstrating great alignment between the two organizations and their complementary missions to illuminate untold stories of the African American experience. In this marquee event, Prof. Giovanni will be in conversation with Dr. Tonya Matthews, CEO of IAAM. This is an important opportunity for audiences to embrace a conversation with one of the most important poets of our time. Prof. Giovanni has been awarded 7 NAACP awards, a Grammy nomination, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. In collaboration with the International African American Museum (IAAM), made possible by the generosity of TD Bank

2:00 p.m
Dock Street Theatre - $30
Kwame Dawes And Kimiko Hahn With Marjory Wentworth
Fortunate Travelers
Fellow poets, Kwame Dawes, current poet laureate of Jamaica, and Kimiko Hahn, distinguished Creative Writing and Literary Translation professor at Queens College, are in conversation discussing poetry with international themes. Dawes is the author of twenty books of poetry and numerous other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. His work often centers on his childhood and early adult life in Jamaica. The talk is moderated by former poet laureate to South Carolina, Marjory Wentworth.

4:00 p.m
Dock Street Theatre - $30
Geoff Dyer With Geoffrey Harpham
The Last Days Of Roger Federer
“I define retirement as the phase of life in which I will do nothing but watch tennis," writes Geoff Dyer in The Last Days of Roger Federer. The book is his meditation on things coming to an end and an examination of the late achievements of a range of writers, painters, athletes and musicians. “Tennis, jazz, Dylan, movies, TV, drugs, Nietzsche, Beethoven. Geoff Dyer once again melds commentary and observation with intellect and wit." - Steve Martin. He muses on last performances and last works, with plenty of lively detours along the way, together with Geoffrey Harpham, author of Citizenship on Catfish Row.

6:00 p.m
Dock Street Theatre - $35
Debate: Baldwin Vs. Buckley
Live Theater Performance By The American Vicarious
To commemorate the centenary of the birth of James Baldwin, we re-create the legendary Cambridge University debate between two intellectual titans: “The American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro," - James Baldwin Experience a live staging of the historic 1965 Cambridge Union debate, televised across the world, between James Baldwin, leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., the US’s most influential conservative intellectual. Following the re-enactment, members of the audience will be invited to have their say regarding the contemporary relevance of the debate.