Poetry Programming: Celebrating Langston Hughes

Celebrating National Poetry Month at NYPL. Join the Harlem Library for a writing workshop celebrating the legacy of Langston Hughes.

This event will be held in person at the Harlem Library. Writers of all levels, genres, and styles can attend and write. We invite you to join us for an informal and relaxed writing experience honoring the work of Langston Hughes. Using a variety of prompts, we'll look at facets of his writing such as his usage of characters, location, and lived experience to build a narrative. The workshop will include built-in writing time and an opportunity to share at the end of the program.  No familiarity with Hughes' work is necessary, learn with us! 

Langston Hughes (1902–1967) was a prominent American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement in the 1920s that celebrated African American culture, art, and intellectual life. Hughes is best known for his poems that captured the experiences and struggles of African Americans, often using jazz and blues rhythms in his writing.

His works include poems like "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "I, Too," and "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred"), which explore themes of identity, race, equality, and resilience. Hughes also wrote plays, short stories, and novels, and he worked as a journalist, writing about social issues affecting Black communities.

Hughes influenced African American literature and culture, and his work continues to resonate today for its deep exploration of race and the human condition.

Harlem Community Collection: Since before the Harlem Renaissance and right through the present day, Harlem has had a rich tradition of extraordinary African American writing and culture. With the Harlem Community Collection, librarians at Countee Cullen Library and Harlem Library have curated a selection of some of the most significant works written about, for, by, and in Harlem and its diverse communities. These books are reserved for circulation in Harlem to ensure easy community access to great works of literature that speak to the Black experience in America. Authors including Maya Angelou, Faith Ringgold, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Nikki Grimes, Walter Dean Myers, Toni Morrison, Langston Hughes, and Chester Himes feature in this growing collection.

Visit 125th Street Library and Harlem Library for more information and to borrow titles from the collection.