Summer 2024 Course Announced!

Other Countries: Black Gay Voices Virtual Seminar
Course Dates: Saturday, June 1 - 29, 2024 (Five consecutive Saturday Sessions)
Time: 10:00 - 11:30 AM
Sliding Scale Seminar Fee: *$225-375
Seating is limited!
Ages 18+ Recommended
Virtual Platform: Zoom
Registration Deadline: Friday, May 24, 2024
Course Facilitator: Katherine Cheairs
Scholarships and payment plan options are available. See full course description below.

Course Overview

This five session Saturday morning virtual seminar focuses on close reading, interactive discussions, writing prompts and guest speakers related to the publication of the seminal anthology, Other Countries: Black Gay Voices, A First Volume (1988) as well as Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS, Volume II (1993). Both of these anthologies were published by the Other Countries Collective, inspired by the work of James Baldwin and founded by Daniel Garrett in 1986 at the LGBT Community Center in the West Village of New York City to support the development of gay black writers. The Other Countries Collective board chairs were Colin Robinson and B. Michael Hunter. Writers who were members included Essex Hemphill, Marlon T. Riggs, Assotto Saint, Joseph Beam, Cary Alan Johnson, Sapphire, Donald W. Woods and Samuel R. Delaney, to name a few. No previous experience in writing is needed to attend this class. 18+ recommended. Readings will be provided for participants in the class via a shared electronic folder.

Class Objectives

1. Explore some of the key writers and thinkers in the Other Countries collective.

2. Gain insight into the social and political context in which Other Countries: Black Gay Voices, A First Volume and Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS are written.

3. Engage in an individual and collective writing practice grounded in queer and Black literary traditions through these specific texts.

Note: This seminar intentionally centers the voices and writings of black gay writers. Participants interested in this class who do not share that identity are asked to come into the space with curiosity, humility and openness.

Current and past members of the Other Countries Collective are welcome to attend this class at no cost though registration is still required.

**A percentage of the proceeds from this course will be donated to the Counter Narrative Project.**

While a PDF copy of the first edition of the text is provided for the course free of charge, it is recommended that participants purchase both publications. Black Gay Voices, Volume I (1988) and Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS (1993) are available for purchase through www.firepress.com. 

Course Registration

Completing the registration form is required for admittance to the course. A confirmation email will be sent to finalize registration.

Makeda School for Art, Media, and Humanities offers sliding scale fees for programs on an honor system basis. It is encouraged for interested participants to pay what they can within the suggested range based on their income and financial circumstances. Makeda School can offer a small number of full and partial scholarships to community members where the sliding scale is out of reach. If you would like to be considered for a full or partial scholarship to attend this course, please indicate that through the registration form.

Installment options are also available for attendees who do not need a scholarship but would benefit from being able to split the costs into two or three payments. Seminar participants who can pay at the full rate are encouraged to do so knowing that support goes to supplement others who might otherwise not be able to attend.

It is a core value of Makeda School to foster organizational sustainability and nurture a practice of equitable compensation to facilitators that seeks to repair centuries of harm done through uncompensated labor practices and exploitation directed toward Black, queer, and other historically marginalized people.

Complete the registration form here!