Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities

Hurston (Zora Neale) Festival of the Arts and Humanities

Late January to early February

The Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities (also known as the Zora! Festival ) is an eight-day, multi-disciplinary event held every year in late January to early February in Eatonville, Fla. Zora Neale Hurston was an acclaimed novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. She was also a respected folklorist and anthropologist who devoted herself to preserving the culture of African Americans in the South. She grew up in Eatonville, noted as the oldest incorporated African-American municipality in the United States.
The Zora! Festival was launched in 1990 to showcase her life and work, as well as to celebrate her hometown and the cultural contributions that people of African descent have made to the United States and the world. It features a three-day street festival of the arts, the first day of which is a special education day for school children. The street festival also showcases performances by nationally known acts. During the week prior to the street festival, art exhibits, literary readings, academic presentations, conferences, and lectures, many of them free of charge, are devoted to Hurston and African-American arts in general.

CONTACTS:
Zora! Festival
227 W. Kennedy Blvd.
Eatonville, FL 32751
407-647-3131; fax: 407-539-2192

SOURCES:
AAH-2007, p. 437
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