A two-day celebration of the seminal Martinican poet and statesman Aimé Césaire will take place October 3 and 4, 2013, at Lehman College and The Graduate Center, CUNY.

Thursday, October 3, Lehman College, CUNY, 2:00-6:00 pm, East Dining Room

L’ami fondamental: Euzhan Palcy’s 2006 film featuring the elderly poets of the Négritude movement, Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001) and Aimé Césaire (1913-2008). This short documentary records their last interview together in 1993, and traces a friendship—and its poetic trajectory—that lasted over 65 years.

Global Césaire: A panel of experts speaking of Césaire’s lasting legacy. Including scholars from Lehman College—Professors Ghelawdewos Araia and Milagros Ricourt—as well as Prof. Françoise Naudillon from Concordia University and Prof. Nick Nesbitt from Princeton.

A poetic interlude: Featuring a selection of Césaire’s texts read by Lehman students, and the special appearance of the Chadian poet, novelist and essayist, Nimrod.

Friday, 4 October, CUNY Graduate Center, 2:30-7:00pm, Room C197

Two roundtables featuring a varied group of scholars, experts, and writers to celebrate Césaire’s influence in diverse political and poetic realms, with a special focus on Césaire’s ties to Haiti.

Césaire et la mémoire: Chaired by Thomas Spear, with Sylvie Kandé, Françoise Naudillon, Lucie Paul, and Ronnie Scharfman.

Performance of Aimé Césaire’s texts: by Carol Alexis, Jean-Dany Joachim, and Sylvie Kandé.

Césaire et Haïti: Chaired by Régine Joseph, with J. Michael Dash, Wilson Décembre, Frantz Leconte, Jasmine Narcisse, and Étienne Télémaque.

Nimrod, “Césaire, l’océanique”: Keynote Address