La Maison Baldwin Panel
Marryam Moma “Why am I Still Waiting in Vain?,” ICONoclasts. 2024 (28 x 28 inches. Photo): Steve Schapiro, James Baldwin, Colored Entrance Only, New Orleans, 1963
June 2025
La Maison Baldwin Writers Panel
This past year marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin. In honor of the profound impact Baldwin’s words have had on the American socio-political and cultural zeitgeist, Hambidge has partnered with La Maison Baldwin to celebrate contemporary Black writers influenced by his legacy. The partnership will culminate in an event at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta, Georgia on June 17 (6:00–7:30 PM), featuring an evening of powerful storytelling and reflection.
As a part of the Baldwin partnership, selected writers received a three-week residency at Hambidge to focus and hone their craft. On Tuesday, participating writers Tara Coyt, Anita August, and Charles Stephens will read a short excerpt from their recent work and participate in a thought-provoking conversation moderated by cultural critic Cinque Hicks, exploring Baldwin’s ongoing influence on contemporary literature and their own creative practices.
“Being awarded the La Maison Baldwin fellowship provided three weeks to focus on revising my first stage play,” shared Coyt. “Nearly a year had passed without addressing the notes from my dramaturg, and this residency provided the time and encouragement to reopen the script. It must have been the right time and place...because the ideas and words flowed easily each time I sat down to work.”
La Maison Baldwin is dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of James Baldwin by nurturing creativity, fostering intellectual exchange, and championing voices reflecting Baldwin's values through conferences and residencies. They have placed writers in residencies across the world in regions deeply connected to Baldwin’s life and legacy. Hambidge is honored to have played a role in this mission, representing the American South in this historic project and hosting a collaborative literary event in one of Atlanta’s most historic neighborhoods.
This event is free and open to the public. Presented with generous support from the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and the Auburn Avenue Research Library. A pre-reception open to all attendees will take place at Atlanta Daily World (145 Auburn Avenue at 4:30-5:30PM) hosted by Civil Sights.
About The Hambidge Center:
Established in 1934, The Hambidge Center is a sanctuary unlike any other dedicated to nurturing creativity in all walks of life. On the historic 600-acre campus in the North Georgia Mountains, Hambidge offers a national multidisciplinary residency program, innovative workshops, along with community programs and a gallery. As the oldest residency program in the South, Hambidge has a long tradition of excellence hosting artists, writers, dancers, musicians, chefs and scientists exploring their creative voices while unplugging from everyday distractions. With the addition of the Antinori Village in 2023, Hambidge has expanded its programming to include workshops, curated projects, and public events, furthering its mission to nurture creativity. Inspiring workshops are modeled after the residency program welcoming eight individuals at a time to ensure deeper connection and crafted from the number of people that fit around the dinner table. The Cross-Pollination Art Lab in Atlanta also provides studio space and dynamic arts programming. Through all its programs, Hambidge boldly promotes the creative process and incubation of ideas in the widest diversity of people while building strong, supportive bonds of community through open, respectful dialogue and shared experiences.
Media Contact:
Ife Williams
iwilliams@hambidge.org
About The Panelists:
Cinqué Hicks, Panel Moderator
Cinqué Hicks has a distinguished record in engaging the public in the arts as a writer, critic, and cultural producer.
He has served as senior contributing editor of the International Review of African American Art, editor-in-chief of ArtsATL, and interim editor-in-chief of Art Papers. His online publication Code Z: Black Visual Culture Now was one of the first online art publications of the mid-2000s and included interviews and profiles of Wangechi Mutu, Deborah Roberts, Julie Dash, Kojo Griffin, Fahamu Pecou and others. In 2011, he was the founding creative director of Atlanta Art Now and co-author of its landmark volume, Noplaceness: Art in a Post-Urban Landscape. From 2008 to 2012, Hicks was an art critic, arts writer, and columnist for Creative Loafing and has written for a variety of national and international publications including Public Art Review, Art in America, Artforum.com, and Artvoices.
Charles Stephens, La Maison Baldwin Distinguished Fellow
Charles Stephens is an Atlanta-based writer. His writings have appeared in Copper Nickel, The Lumiere Review, Isele Magazine, Queerlings, and Beyond Queer Words; and forthcoming in BULL and the Roots.Wounds.Words 2024 anthology. His work has been supported by the Tin House Winter Workshop, the Kenyon Review Winter Workshop, the Hurston/Wright Foundation, Roots.Wounds.Words, the Lambda Literary Writer’s Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, and Periplus. His essays and Op-Eds have appeared in the AJC, Creative Loafing, Atlanta Magazine, Them, Georgia Voice, and the Advocate. The 2014 anthology he co-edited, Black Gay Genius, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.
Tara Coyt, La Maison Baldwin Distinguished Fellow
Tara Coyt is the award-winning author of Real Talk About LGBTQIAP, which received the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Award. Tara is also an award-winning artist and
entrepreneur, receiving the Atlanta Business League Super Tuesday Outstanding Business Achievement award, Atlanta Daily World Women of Excellence award, and a grant from Alternative Roots and The Andrew Mellon Foundation. She is Founder of the Tara Coyt Publishing Fund for Scholars Chronicling The Black Experience, The Write Author Coach, and Coyt Communications. Tara has collaborated with NBA All-Stars, a Death Row Records photographer, and several entrepreneurs to develop memoirs, art books, and other nonfiction publications. Her articles and editorials have appeared in Atlanta Magazine, Catalyst, Entrepreneur, Newsmakers Journal, Real Times Media publications, Rolling Out, and Validation Times. Tara produced the short documentary film, Joe Barry Carroll, which was commissioned by the South Fulton Institute. Her paintings and photographs have appeared in juried exhibits with Atlanta Photography/Audubon Society, Avondale Arts Alliance, Emma Darnell Aviation Museum, Dunwoody Fine Art Association, Georgia Nature Photographers Association/Roswell Fine Art Alliance, and Roswell Roots.
Non-profit board appointments include Atlanta Writers Club, Atlanta-Rio Sister Cities Foundation, Atlanta Technical College Foundation, and Decatur Book Festival. Tara is a member of Alternate Roots, Atlanta Film Festival Screening Committee, Atlanta Photography Group, Georgia Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, PEN America, Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, and Working Title Playwrights. She is a GLAAD Media Institute alumnus, and graduate of the United Way ofMetropolitan Atlanta Volunteer Improvement Program. Other memberships have included Black Journalists Association, Black MBA Association, Georgia Equality, National Association of Minorities in Communications, and The Public Square.
Anita August, La Maison Baldwin Distinguished Fellow
Anita August is a scholar-practitioner working at the intersection of rhetoric, creative writing, and cultural studies. She holds a Ph.D. in Writing and Rhetoric Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso, an MFA in Creative Writing and Critical Studies from the California Institute of the Arts, and a B.A. in Communications from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. August spent eight years at Sacred Heart University, where she advanced from Assistant Professor to tenured Associate Professor. During her tenure, she directed Writing Programs and the Start Strong Program, while also serving as Assistant Director of the Creative Writing Program. Since 2018, she has worked independently as a writer and scholar, producing fiction, screenplays, and academic research outside traditional academic institutions.
Her work spans both creative and scholarly domains. Her book Gut Bucket Blues showcases her creative voice, while Visual Imagery, Metadata, and Multimodal Literacies Across the Curriculum highlights her scholarly contributions. Her chapter, “Strained Sisterhood in the WCTU: The Lynching and Suffrage Rivalry Between Ida B. Wells and Frances E. Willard,” was recognized as a top-three finalist for the 2021 Theresa J. Enos Anniversary Award by Rhetoric Review. August’s scholarship on Ida B. Wells and Gloria Naylor underscores her dedication to recovering and analyzing marginalized voices in American history and literature. Her creative work has earned recognition in several screenwriting competitions, including the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards (2023) and the Big Break Screenwriting Contest (2022). She was named a 2024 Invited Participant at the prestigious Stowe Writing Labs and received the Historical Novel Society Diversity Scholarship for her work-in-progress, Dancing on the Devil's Backbone. August frequently shares her expertise through invited presentations, including recent talks at the Mable House Arts Center on narrative identity and feminine sensory experience, and at ANDRRA Academy in Albania.
A big thank you to all of our partners:
