Celebrating Literary Foremothers
Sun., March 22 | 2:00pm-3:30pm
@ Chapter 510
Host Dorothy Lazard—writer, librarian, and public historian— joins an extraordinary lineup of local women writers for an afternoon of readings to benefit Chapter 510, an Oakland-based nonprofit dedicated to connecting young people to the power of their stories and providing a space for youth to bravely write.
Celebrating Literary Foremothers is a fundraiser featuring Judy Juanita, Angela Dalton, Aya de Léon, and Jeneé Darden—powerful voices whose work reflects the legacy of women writers in our community. Learn more about these incredible authors and their impactful work below.
Guests at this free event will have the opportunity to learn about Chapter 510's free and low-cost writing and publishing programs for Black, brown, and queer Oakland youth, and to support this work with a donation. Thank you for joining us for this truly special gathering of writers!
About Dorothy Lazard
Dorothy Lazard is a nonfiction writer, public historian, and celebrated librarian. As the head librarian of the Oakland Public Library's Oakland History Center, she encouraged people of all ages and backgrounds to explore local history. For her work with the public, Dorothy received the 2023 Oscar Lewis Award in Western History from the Book Club of California. Her first book, "What You Don't Know Will Make a Whole New World: A Memoir," was published by Heyday in 2023 and was shortlisted for a Northern California Book Award. Her forthcoming book, "Behind the Desk at the Main: A Librarian's Memoir, about her years working at the Oakland Main Library, will be published in August 2026.
About Judy Juanita
Born in Berkeley and raised in Oakland, Judy Juanita (Judy Hart) joined the nation’s first Black Student Union at San Francisco State and subsequently the Black Panther Party (BPP).
She edited the BPP newspaper and worked in the Breakfast for Children program while finishing her BA at SF State. Five days after graduating, she became the youngest professor of the nation’s first black studies program.
Decades later, she would appreciate that she had participated in four key social movements: Black Arts Movement (BAM) where she performed her poetry with LeRoi Jones (who became Amiri Baraka) in the Black Arts and Culture Troupe; The BPP where she edited its weekly newspaper and worked in the groundbreaking Free Breakfast for Children program; The Black Student movement and historic 4 ½ month SFSU strike where she edited Black Fire, the strike journal, and established the nation’s first Black Studies Department where she taught Black Psychology and Black Journalism.
An award-winning author, poet, public speaker and podcaster, Juanita’s themes explore the peculiar paths trodden by black people in California. Her work is archived at Duke University's John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African-American Literature. Her poetry and fiction have been published widely. A former Poet-in-the-Schools in New Jersey, Judy Juanita currently teaches at UC Berkeley.
About Angela Dalton
Angela Dalton is a children’s book author based in Oakland, California, and has a background in producing online kids’ games. She began writing at a young age and saw it as a way to create her own world. Her self-published picture book, If You Look Up to the Sky, was inspired by her grandmother and an early fascination with outer space and astronomy. Both traditionally and independently published, her work centers black children as main characters in spaces and represented them in ways she wishes she had seen growing up.
Dalton is a member of the Bay Area BIPOC Book Creators, Black Creators HQ, and the 12×12 Picture Book Challenge. Her picture books include Ruby’s Reunion Day Dinner (HarperCollins), Show the World! (Viking Books for Young Readers), and To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Advanced Civil Rights (HarperCollins).
When she is not reading or writing, she enjoys spending time working on other types of engaging content for kids. She is currently co-creating an online puppet video series and developing a story-time video program for UCSF–Oakland Children’s Hospital.
About Aya de Léon
Aya de León is the Poet Laureate of the City of Berkeley, and she teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley. Kensington Books publishes her novels for adults, including the Justice Hustlers series and several standalone novels. Candlewick Books publishes Aya’s “Factory” series for younger readers. Aya has appeared in the New York Times‘ “By the Book” and has received acclaim in the Washington Post, the Village Voice, and SF Chronicle. Her words have also appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, The Guardian UK, and on Def Poetry.
A graduate of Harvard College, with an MFA in fiction from Antioch University Los Angeles, Aya has been an artist in residence at Stanford University, a Cave Canem poetry fellow, and a slam poetry champion. In spring 2022, she organized an online conference entitled Black Literature vs. the Climate Emergency (available on YouTube). She’s also on Instagram. In 2025, she kicked off her new project, Formation, an intergenerational community organizing project through the arts. She organizes with the Black Hive, the climate and environmental justice formation of the Movement for Black Lives. She is also involved with the Working Families Party and writes and choreographs social justice line dances to bring joy to political movements.
About Jeneé Darden
Jeneé Darden is an award-winning journalist, author, public speaker and mental health advocate from Oakland, CA. She is the host and executive producer of the weekly KALW arts segment Sights & Sounds and she is their East Oakland reporter. Jeneé has reported for NPR, Marketplace, KQED, KPCC, The Los Angeles Times, Ebony, Refinery29 and other outlets. In 2005, she reported on the London transit bombings for Time magazine. She is the author of When a Purple Rose Blooms (Nomadic Press), a collection of essays and poetry about her personal journey through Black womanhood. She curates the reading Let Her Tell It! about Black women and mental health. Jeneé holds a BA in ethnic studies from UC San Diego and a master’s in journalism from the University of Southern California.