13th Floor Lounge Podcast - Leatrice Ellzy

Author and scholar Valerie Boyd joins us this week to discuss her journey with Zora when she wrote Wrapped In Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston and her current walk with Alice Walker as she curates Alice Walker's journal for a book to be released in 2017.

Arts enthusiast Imara Canady joins us in the lounge to give us tips and tricks on how to access the arts on a shoestring budget. From Broadway to apps that help you in your local market, Imara has got you covered!

We sit down with Ronda Penrice, author of African American History for Dummies to discuss the past, present and future of Black Lives in America.

Aku Kadogo is an international theatre director, choreographer, educator and creative producer of cultural arts projects. This multi-faceted artist directs highly energetic, imaginative theatre works and has produced a number of collaborative interdisciplinary projects. Her eclectic career has spanned across the United States, Australia, Europe and Asia.

Okorie has been playing cello for more than 30 years. A graduate of Morehouse College, Okorie played with Spelman College’s string ensemble, and has studied with Oliver Edel at the Levine School of Music in Washington, DC. His specialty is melodic cello accompaniment to acoustic, guitar-based soul, folk and jazz.

Our first guest is friend, visual artist, scholar and karaoke king Fahamu Pecou. His works combine observations on hip-hop, fine art and popular culture. Pecou’s paintings, performance art, and academic work addresses concerns around contemporary representations of Black masculinity and how these images impact both the reading and performance of Black masculinity.