In October of 2013  Amiri Baraka delivered the annual Charles Olson Lecture  in Gloucester. Mr. Baraka had not been back since he last visited with his friend in the early Sixties. In his lecture  Charles Olson and Sun Ra – A Note on Being Out, he states. “If you cannot make the connection that is between Olson and Sun Ra, you cannot understand the topology of that time.” The reading at the Cape Ann Museum by this playwright, poet and activist was one of his last public events.  Sadly he passed on January 9, 2014, just one day before his friend Charles left 44 years earlier.

Susan Pollack was one of those affected by Baraka’s brilliance and compassion. Ms. Pollack wrote the GWC that, “he moved me deeply, as did his very personal conversation with each of us who asked him to sign a book.” Sadly Gloucester was one of Mr. Baraka’s last public events. In the aftermath of his death Ms. Pollack advocated to the Kanter-Kallman Foundation which she serves upon to provide a scholarship to a deserving Gloucester High student in Mr. Baraka’s name. The Gloucester Writers Center administrates this scholarship and is happy to announce that Gloucester High School graduating senior Mila Barry is the recipient of the scholarship.

Congratulations, Mila!