African American Family Stories & Poetry - In-person

with published authors from the Olney Writer's Group

Olney Library welcomes back newly-published authors Francene Hill and Linda R. Moore, as they share their powerful family history, stories & poetry. Join us for this Black History Month Celebration!

OLNEY WRITER'S GROUP MEMBERS FRANCENE HILL AND LINDA R. MOORE are family friends-- their parents were classmates at Dunbar High School in Little Rock, AR-- who by chance reconnected at an Olney Writer's Group meeting after 30+ years. During this special Black History event, Francene and Linda will share their compelling family history and excerpts from their recently-published writing and poetry. Learn about their writing journeys, what motivates them, and their strategies for promoting and publishing their work. A Q&A session and light refreshments will follow.
Copies of their books will be available for purchase and signing.

FRANCENE HILL'S book, Tiny Tots in Tiaras and Tuxedos, was published in November 2025 by Greater Ville Press and immediately received an excellent review in Kirkus Reviews ("Our verdict: get it"). It chronicles the story of her mother, Kermit Bland Hill, a pioneering African American woman who founded the "Tiny Tot Nursery School of St. Louis" during the Baby Boom era. Drawing from personal letters, photographs, and oral histories, the book provides an intimate look at Kermit's life and achievements. For more information, please visit tinytotalums.com. According to Kirkus, "Overall, this biography, memoir, and historical narrative is an important addition to the literature on mid-20th-century Black women entrepreneurs, accompanied by a wealth of photographs, news clippings, handwritten letters, and other visual elements."

For nearly her entire lifetime, LINDA R. MOORE dreamed of becoming a writer, but other considerations—raising a family and a career as visionary educator—got in the way. The recent COVID pandemic shutdown provided Linda with an unanticipated opportunity to explore poetry writing, initially as a self-care strategy and later as a passion, at a time when nothing seemed to be as it should have been. Not content simply to write poetry, Linda now offers poetry-writing workshops for children and adults. Her chapbook of poems, Reaching for Resilience, written between April 2020 and December 2022, was published in 2025 and reflects on how we choose to survive and thrive in the face of unforeseen challenges. This is not just a collection of poetry—it’s a testament to the human spirit’s capacity to bend, break, and rebuild.

No registration is required but seating is limited. Sponsored by Friends of the Library, Montgomery County, MD, Inc.

Questions about this program? Contact the Olney branch at 240-773-9545.

Take a look at MCPL's online resources. Don't have a card right now?  No worries!  Find out how to Get a Library Card.

Accommodation Requests

People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing should request English-language captioning or sign-language interpretation at least five days before the library-sponsored program they plan to attend. Contact the Assistant Facilities and Accessibility Program Manager at 240-777-0002 with all other accommodation requests.

cm 1.1 01/03/2023

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