March 30, 2006 - Five Nationally-Acclaimed Authors On Tap for Second Annual Zora Fest!

Five nationally-known authors and researchers on the life and literary accomplishments of the late Zora Neale Hurston will be discussing The Mystique of Zora at the second annual Zora Fest!, April 28 through 30 at Lincoln Park Academy and several other venues in Fort Pierce.

The festival itself will be Saturday, April 29 at Lincoln Park Academy in Fort Pierce. Admission is Free.

Serving as the keynote speaker for the event will be Lucy Anne Hurston, niece of the famed Harlem Renaissance author who died in Fort Pierce in 1960. Hurston discussed her aunt's literature and relationships with her family at last year's festival. Hurston's book about her aunt, Speak, So You Can Speak Again, includes a CD of sound from the Federal Writers Project audio tapes recorded by Zora Neale Hurston, as well as family recollections of their aunt. Hurston will appear on Sunday, April 30, through the support of the St. Lucie Historical Society.

New to the festival will be Dr. Robert Hemenway, chancellor of the University of Kansas, who wrote Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography. At a Hurston presentation many years ago, Hemenway is credited with inspiring a new biography on Hurston by pointing out it was time for a new work and must be written by a black woman.

That woman turned out to be author Valerie Boyd, who was in the audience that day. Her book, Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life and Times of Zora Neale Hurston, is now considered the most-acclaimed biography of Huston. She is a former journalist with the Atlanta Constitution and Journal and appeared as the keynote speaker last year at the Hurston festival in Fort Pierce. She will be back for additional literary discussions about Hurston.

Other authors who will be serving on literary panels include: Stetson Kennedy, author of The Klan Unmasked and former supervisor of Hurston during her years researching for the Federal Writers Project; and Dr. Deborah G. Plant, professor of African Studies at the University of South Florida and author of Every Tub Must Sit On Its Own Bottom.

Besides the festival events, the Zora Neale Hurston Committee and the St. Lucie County Cultural Affairs Council will present a one-woman show on Friday, April 28 at the Magnet School for the Arts on Delaware Avenue in Fort Pierce. The play, Loquacious and Bodacious: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, will be presented by the Actors Repretory from West Palm Beach. The play was written and performed by actress Bhetty Waldron in the West Palm Beach area for many years. Waldron died of cancer last year.

On Thursday, April 27 at 7 p.m. at the Magnet School for the Arts, public radio station WQCS / 88.9 FM and the Florida Humanities Council will present Voices of the Harlem Renaissance, a humanities lecture about the relationship between Hurston, author Langston Hughes and sociologist W.B. DuBois during the Harlem Renaissance period. The presentation is part of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is one of the first presentations of his humanities discussion. Admission is FREE and open to the public.

For additional information, please contact the St. Lucie County Cultural Affairs Council at (772) 462-1767 or visit the website at http://www.co.st-lucie.fl.us/zorafest.