We’re thrilled to announce award-winning author, activist, and esteemed education researcher Dr. Bettina L. Love and literary titan Margaret Atwood as the keynote interviewees for the Folk Unlocked Virtual Conference! Both keynotes will be addressed in an interview format, with musician and educator Brandi Waller-Pace conducting Dr. Love’s interview, and folk artist and Tony Award winner Anaïs Mitchell conducting Margaret Atwood’s interview.
Hope and intention are far more productive than sheer resilience, and given the dystopian nature of the pandemic, coupled with the social unrest and political tumult of the past year, Dr. Love’s profound insights regarding diversity and inclusion will deepen the critical reflection and call to action of our industry, while Margaret Atwood’s poignant perspective will help us refocus music as an ancient medicine for real and existential angst.
Margaret Atwood’s interview will be on Monday, February 22, 2021, at 12 pm CT. Dr. Bettina Love’s interview will be on Thursday, February 25, 2021, at 10 am CT.
Both keynote interviews will be available for viewing by Folk Unlocked attendees only. Register for Folk Unlocked here.
About Dr. Bettina L. Love
Dr. Bettina L. Love is an award-winning author, activist, and esteemed education researcher who speaks on topics of anti-racism, Hip Hop education, Black girlhood, queer youth, Hip Hop feminism, art-based education to foster youth civic engagement, and issues of diversity and inclusion. She co-founded the Abolitionist Teaching Network to develop and support teachers and parents to fight injustice within their schools and communities. Dr. Love is the author of the books “We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom” and “Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South”. She has been featured in the English Journal, Urban Education, The Urban Review, and has provided commentary for NPR, Ed Week, and The Guardian among others.
About Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in more than 45 countries, is the author of more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Her latest novel, “The Testaments”, is a co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. It is the long-awaited sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale”, now an award-winning TV series. Her other works of fiction include “Cat’s Eye”, a finalist for the 1989 Booker Prize; “Alias Grace”, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; “The Blind Assassin”, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; The “MaddAddam” Trilogy; and “Hag-Seed”. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. “Dearly”, her first collection of poetry in over a decade, was published in November 2020.