Amiri Baraka, the internationally renowned poet, playwright, literary critic, and Newark native will be addressing the student body at New Jersey Institute of Technology during Black History Month.  Sponsored by Architecture Student Union & Newark Review, this event will take place on Thursday, February 10th at 6pm in the Weston Lecture Hall (located on MLK Blvd.).  Baraka's address will focus on the Lincoln Park/Coast Cultural District project, a grassroots approach to reinvigorating local arts and culture within what is popularly known as the Newark Renaissance. Following his talk, Baraka will perform with his musical ensemble, Blue Ark.

  Born in Newark in 1934, Amiri Baraka is the author of several dozen collections of poetry, fiction, drama, essays and criticism.  He is widely known for collaborating and recording albums with numerous major jazz musicians, and for his involvement with Black Nationalism and other potent culturally active groups.  Baraka, formerly known as LeRoi Jones, studied at Howard University, was an editor with several important publishing projects (including Totem Press, KULCHUR, and The Floating Bear), then gained widespread acclaim in 1964 with the Obie Award-winning play, Dutchman.  After the death of Malcolm X, he founded the Harlem-based Black Arts Movement.  Formerly a professor at SUNY-Stony Brook, Yale, Columbia, Rutgers, and other universities, Baraka resides in Newark.  He spearheads the Unity and Struggle collective and co-hosts with his wife, Amina, a monthly salon at his home, Kimako’s Blues People.  In 1997, Baraka appeared in Warren Beatty’s film Bullworth; his recent publications include Funk Lore:  Black History Music,Tribute To Duke Ellington, The Life Of Willie The Lion Smith, Dr. King & The Mountain, and ALLAH MEAN EVERYTHING, a special edition of the NJIT periodical Newark Review (http://www-ec.njit.edu/~newrev/v2s4). Digging: The Afro American Soul of American Classical Music will appear in March 2000.

  For more information, please contact either Chris Funkhouser (editor, Newark Review) [(973) 596-6335 or email funkhouser@adm.njit.edu]  or Matthew Smith [(973) 372-7130 or email vivaohio@hotmail.com]