Duff Hosts Readings To Celebrate Langston Hughes Centenary

Ogle Duff, associate professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education, is hosting several poetry circles in conjunction with the National Council of Teachers of English to celebrate author Langston Hughes’ 100th birthday.

An event will be held at 11 a.m. Sept. 7 in the Homewood branch of the Carnegie Library, 7101 Hamilton Ave. Two additional poetry circles will be held Nov. 2 and 10 at times and locations to be announced.

The impetus for the poetry circles comes from the Speaking of Rivers: Taking Poetry to the People project, funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to the University of Kansas-Lawrence.

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, a book of poetry for children published by Knopf in 1932, will be the focus of the Sept. 7 reading.

Known as Poet Laureate of Harlem, Hughes was an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born on Feb. 1, 1902, in Joplin, Mo.

Hughes won the Harmon Gold Medal for Literature for his novel Not Without Laughter, published in 1930 by Knopf.

—Patricia Lomando White