At the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street inside a still fresh Martin Luther King Jr. Branch of the Cleveland Public Library, writers from all walks of life shared and gained knowledge alongside local, national and award-winning authors. Brought together by GLAAWC (pronounced “glossy”), the 8th Annual Great Lakes African American Writers Conference was a day filled with opportunities to purchase books, network, practice your writing and hear from award-winning writers.
“A Phenomenal Setting” for GLAAWC
With a filled room, GLAAWC Founder and Executive Producer Dr. Leah C. Lewis, J.D. said she was pleased with the turnout.
“I felt like this was a phenomenal setting for GLAAWC 2025,” Lewis said. “GLAAWC was started to eliminate knowledge deficits for writers. Regardless of whether you want to be a poet, a novelist, a playwright, a screenwriter – so many people have creative aspirations, but they don’t have the practical background and knowledge to really positively exploit their creative abilities. We bring professionals, whether they have a national profile or a local or regional profile before individuals, and everyone that we highlight is successful.”
Lewis explained GLAAWC is about community.
“People come here, they feel good, we’re in a safe space. People can engage, they can ponder, they can pray, process,” she said. “I believe the quality of the information that was conveyed was stellar, as I expected it to be. And I thought our awards ceremony was particularly moving. So very happy that Julie Ezelle Patton and Dr. Yvonne Poynter were present to receive their awards.”
A Local, Regional, and National Audience
Attendee Donna Edwards, of the Oakwood neighborhood in Cleveland, said she met Lewis at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church and has followed Lewis’ work for years.
“I just love everything [Lewis] does, and she’s great for the community and does all kinds of good stuff,” Edwards said. “I’ve been following GLAAWC since she founded it.”
Edwards said, though she is not a writer, GLAAWC is good for Cleveland authors, especially those who like to network. She met Nancy Q. Walker, of Beachwood, at the event that day. Walker said she had just visited the Cleveland Public Library’s MLK Jr. Branch the day before when she learned about GLAAWC.
“I thought it was really nice to see the level of support – the participants and the authors and the booksellers,” Walker said. “I didn’t realize – they’ve come here from other states. I saw a couple from New York and just all over.”
Walker said she’d love to see GLAAWC grow again in size. Her plan is to follow the organization and find ways to contribute.
Schwartzen Précil, an author based in Oakland, California, said an author-friend of his told him about GLAAWC. Précil, an International Impact Book Awards 2025 Author of the Year Finalist, did his research on the conference and said, “It’s a no brainer to come over here from California in order to be a part of this event.”
He loved hearing the personal stories shared by presenting authors, and said the conference’s “Soul still captures the hearts of ancestors of folks who came before you.”
“It feels so rooted in culture, in the Black community, and in the art of actually writing,” Précil said. “I’ve been doing author events. It’s very business driven. This doesn’t feel like that. It doesn’t give that feel. It gives a very organic feel.”
Précil is an author covering multiple genres, from his inaugural memoir to his self-help guide “Be Your Own Hero: Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities,” to his first children’s book, “Heroes Help Each Other,” to “Emotionless Love” – the first novel in his new romance series, “Fallen Man Fantasies.”
He said GLAAWC does a great job of capturing voices – especially those that typically go unheard.
“They do a phenomenal job of not just representing themselves in their own personal life. They represent those who represent their representation – representatives of not just their families, but also their communities,” he said. “There are different pockets of communities that we need to hear about – that we need to learn about. Cleveland is home to Antoine Fisher. My story is very similar to Antwone Fisher (author, screenwriter). To know that Cleveland has this place for folks like myself, when you don’t see it in too many other spaces, it’s a good way of representation. To have an annual event like this is necessary and very important.”
Author and educator Mary Cole Watson was available to chat and sign her works. On display were her first publication “28 Lessons for African American Youth” – created for young people to journal and discuss Black History every day – as well as her books “Wisdom Warriors” and “More Wisdom, More Warriors,” both inspired by a student that asked Watson to write a book that helped kids feel good about themselves.
“With the toxicity of today, of what’s going on politically, I wanted the young people to feel some hope. I wanted them to feel that every generation has their job to do,” Watson said. “As a community, especially today as a community, we are not as unified as we need to be. And having experiences like [GLAAWC] unifies our people more.”
Behind-the-Scenes at GLAAWC
Nicole D. Miller, associate producer for GLAAWC and a self-published author, said she and Lewis worked together to produce the conference. The event was held in-person in Cleveland, and virtually thanks to the conference’s satellite partners Columbus Metropolitan Library and Detroit Public Library. Miller said Lewis secured keynote speakers Diane McKinney-Whetstone, a nationally renowned author of several novels including “Family Spirit,” and publishing industry expert Kim Martin-Sadler. Miller brought in MCs Nikki B and Demetrius Harvey, as well as Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival Creative Director and award-winning journalist Felicia C. Haney who moderated a panel discussion on the 2024 documentary, “Who in the Hell is Regina Jones.”
While Haney was in Cleveland with GLAAWC attendees, she was joined virtually by Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and co-director of “Who in the Hell is Regina Jones” Billy Miossi, as well as Regina Jones herself. Jones was the co-founder, publisher and editor of SOUL Newspaper and SOUL Illustrated Magazine, two of the first U.S. publications focused on African-American music.
Miller said she met Jones and her team when she interviewed them through her connections with Mas LaRae and the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF). When Miller found out “Who in the Hell is Regina Jones” was showing at the 14th Annual Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival (GCUFF), she reached out to Haney – knowing “she would be the perfect fit to moderate this discussion.”
Lewis said she’s always brought national talent to GLAAWC.
“We have had no shortage of national talent,” she said. “Walter Mosley, Pearl Cleage, Deesha Philyaw, Tayari Jones, Damon Young, Carl Phillips. These are some of the people who have spoken for us over the years.”
GLAAWC 2025 hosted a number of other speakers, authors, and vendors, including:
- African Drumming by Assane Mbaye
- A presentation of the Black National Anthem by Vocalist Esther Fitz
- Managing Editor Miesha Headen announcing the 2026 GLAAWC Anthology
- A presentation of The Alice Dunbar Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award to Julie Ezelle Patton
- A presentation of the Founder’s Award for Dr. Yvonne Pointer
- A “Street Lit” workshop facilitated by Silk Allen, a Community Journalist for The Land.
- A panel discussion “Black Resilience: Overcomers, Thrivers & Survivors” moderated by award-winning speaker and radio personality Laura C. Cowan with guests Jazmin Bailey, an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist and author, and Staci Kirk, an award-winning speaker and business coach
- A panel discussion “Women in Publishing” moderated by Miller with guests Dr. Lisa Wicker, a global business leader and human resources expert, and best-selling author Valerie J. Lewis Coleman
This reporter’s personal experience at GLAAWC
GLAAWC took me by surprise, as there was so much to do for everyone involved. I was surprised it was only going to last for one day.
I was able to have my own copy of Diane McKinney-Whetstone’s “Family Spirit” signed for my mother, Trudy. Though I expected to go out for lunch during the event, attendees were able to fill up their plates with sandwiches, salads, fruit, meatballs and desserts. I almost cried when I learned Regina Jones was the co-founder of SOUL, a first-of-its-kind publication that followed the popular Jet and Ebony magazines I so loved as a child. I was in awe of “being in the same room” with the changemaker – realizing she was one of the Black women who helped pave the way for Black female writers and journalists like myself.
Silk Allen’s “Street Lit” workshop was a blast – challenging me to outline a potential story prompted by a rap song. I chose “U.N.I.T.Y” by Queen Latifah. Afterwards, Allen stayed behind to chat with me, John Carroll University Post-Graduate Hopkins Creative Writing Fellow Isaiah Hunt and The Land Community Journalist Unity Powell to discuss a slew of writing topics. A library security guard stopped in to let us know we had to leave the room nearly 45 minutes after the workshop had ended.
GLAAWC was an extremely inspiring, motivating, and re-assuring event for me as a journalist and as a writer. I even risked all my pride and stood up to ask Keynote Speaker Kim Martin-Sadler if I was crazy for wanting to open a brick-and-mortar bookstore/office/community space in Cleveland one day.
“No,” Martin-Sadler replied instantly. “We need bookstores that have creative settings in them. If you can develop a bookstore that is intergenerational – we need that in our community. What’s even more important is – those of you sitting in here have to go to those stores. You have to buy and shop with them. Bookstores are suffering. Go to the bookstore.”
For more information about GLAAWC or any of the 2025 speakers, visit glaawc.us.
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