Celebrating The Hero in You:
Black History Month Writing Workshop
with Marita Golden
A FREE Virtual Event – Lunch ‘N Learn
Friday, February 23, 2024
Noon – 1:00 pm / PST
Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay! February is a month in which we celebrate African-American men and women heroes. In addition, this year let’s celebrate ourselves, for the many ways in which we perform big and small acts of heroism for ourselves and others.
As we become more conscious of supporting mental health and wellness, acknowledging our gifts, our value, and our heroism becomes part of the new language we are creating.
In this workshop, we will discuss and write about our daily or regular acts of heroism in our family, friendship, and work circles and how those acts have enlarged us.
We’ll talk and write about how heroism for most of us is not exceptional, but built into the fabric of our lives. And we’ll speak the names of the unsung “ordinary” heroes who inspired us.
Using prose or poetry we’ll write about our personal heroes, as well as our own heroic moments.
How have parents, teachers, friends, and strangers, shown up in our lives and lifted us to new heights?
Protected or even saved us?
How have we done the same?
Bring your pen, paper, questions, and get ready to be inspired!
Marita Golden is an award-winning author of over twenty works of fiction and nonfiction. Her books include the novels The Wide Circumference of Love, and After and the memoirs Migrations of the Heart, Saving Our Sons and Don’t Play in the Sun One Woman’s Journey Through the Color Complex Her most recent work of nonfiction is The New Black Woman: Loves Herself, Has Boundaries, and Heals Every Day, a sequel to her book, The Strong Black Woman: How a Myth Endangers the Physical and Mental Health of Black Women.
Marita Golden is a popular speaker who has presented keynote addresses, presentations and lectures in diverse venues from HBCUs, colleges and universities to corporations and nonprofits. She has been a consultant with John Hopkins Medical, presenting quarterly workshops on mental health, radical self-care, and writing as a tool for healing. She has spoken on radical self-care at Yale, MIT, and The Kennedy School of Government.
She is the recipient of many awards including the Writers for Writers Award presented by Barnes & Noble and Poets and Writers, an award from the Authors Guild, and the Fiction Award for her novel After, awarded by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She has lectured and read from her work internationally. She has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, been featured as a question on Jeopardy, and is a two-time NAACP Image Award nominee. She has been frequently interviewed on NPR.
Co-founder and President Emerita of the Zora Neale Hurston/ Richard Wright Foundation, Marita Golden is a veteran teacher of writing. She taught at the University of Lagos, in Nigeria and has served as a member of the faculties of the MFA Graduate Creative Writing Programs at George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University and in the MA Creative Writing Program at John Hopkins University. She has served as Distinguished Writer in Residence at the University of the District of Columbia. As a literary consultant, she offers writing workshops, coaching, and manuscript evaluation services. maritagolden.com
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Brenda Knight is a twenty-year publishing veteran, starting at HarperCollins. She authored American Book Award-winning Women of the Beat Generation, Rituals for Life and Wild Women and Books. She is Past President of the Women’s National Book Association, which hosts the annual Pitch-O-Rama. Knight has worked with many bestselling authors including Mark Nepo, Phil Cousineau, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, and Paolo Coehlo. She is founding editor of Viva Editions, a division of Cleis Press. 
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Brenda Knight, author of Women of the Beat Generation, began her publishing career at HarperCollins working with luminaries including Paolo Coehlo, Marianne Williamson, Mark Nepo, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Knight was awarded IndieFab’s Publisher of the Year at the American Library Association in 2014. She is the author of Random Acts of Kindness, Be a Good in the World, and Women of the Beat Generation which won the American Book Award. She is Editorial Director at Mango Publishing and is Past President of WNBA-SF Chapter.
Elise Marie Collins has consulted with small businesses, authors, and alumni associations on social media marketing and believes that a social media plan should be intuitive, fun, and seamless. Helping students and clients form healthy lifestyle patterns is Elise Collins’ passion and life purpose. She has taught yoga for the past 20 years and is the author of several books on healthy living, including her latest, Super Ager: You Can Look Younger, Have More Energy, a Better Memory, and Live a Long and Healthy Life. Elise enjoys sharing yoga wisdom and current scientific research.
Kate Farrell, author, storyteller, and educator founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. She has contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Her award-winning new book is a how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories. She offers workshops on storytelling and the heroine’s journey for libraries and writing groups 
Ellen McBarnette is a life-long writer whose nonfiction work has been published as testimony, fact sheets and opinion pieces for organizations that include the Sierra Club and the American Bar Association. A professional storyteller, she is a recent transplant from Washington, DC where she ran the Arlington Creative Nonfiction Writers Group. She now runs the Beta Readers and Writers Group and is an active participant in critique groups in the Bay. She lives in Hayward with her partner Ben and their cat Java.
Debra Eckerling is the award-winning author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning, and Achieving Your Goals and creator of the D*E*B METHOD®, for Goal-Setting Simplified. A goals strategist, corporate consultant, and workshop leader, Debra offers personal and professional planning content development, event strategy, and team-building for executives, entrepreneurs, consultants, and companies. Debra has spoken on stages for TEDx, Innovation Women, SCORE LA, and more. She is the founder of the 
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