SAMLA is excited to announce award-winning author Tony Grooms will be hosting a special reading at SAMLA 97!

Two subjects predominant Anthony Grooms’ published work: social change, especially around the American Civil Rights Movement, and travel. These concerns are evident in the award-winning novel Bombingham and poems about Africa which explore relationships between African Americans and Africans. Grooms is also the author of Ice Poems, a poem collection, Trouble No More, a story collection, and The Vain Conversation, a novel. He holds fellowships from Fulbright and Yaddo; and awards from the Hurston-Wright Legacy Foundation, the Lillian Smith Prize, and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Writing in MELUS, a critical journal of multi-ethnic literature, Diptiranjan Pattanaik says that Grooms demonstrates “the insider’s profound knowledge of the history and struggles of African Americans, while consistently managing to circumscribe his breadth of understanding with a tender story-telling art.” He is Professor Emeritus at Kennesaw State University. More about Grooms can be found at anthonygrooms.com and anthonygrooms.substack.com.