Celebrate Black History Month by listening in on one of the pioneers of the Black Arts Movement.

Askia Tour??, an internationally published poet and this year's featured speaker for LitFest, is just one of the many events students can partake in this Friday and Saturday.

LitFest is an annual literature conference in its sixth year that seeks to bring together people from the area to discuss and share poetry.

The conference is open to all students and consists of poetry readings, workshops focusing on different aspects of poetry and, one of the most popular events, the poetry slam. LitFest's theme this year is 'The Politics of Poetry: Words and Movement.'

'The idea behind the conference is to see how poetry in the past has helped moved social change along, and how it will continue to in the future,' said Dennis McGlothin, one of the graduate students running this year's LitFest.

Putting the theme of this year's LitFest into action are the two renowned poets. Askia Tour?? is a poet, teacher, community activist and former Daytonian, having graduated from Dayton Roosevelt High School. His books have won several awards, and he will lead a discussion called 'Poetry and Black Liberation: Freedom's Furious Passions' at 6 p.m. today in Sears Recital Hall.

Everett Hoagland, award-winning poet and professor at the University of Massachusetts, will then read his poetry at 7 p.m. on Saturday at ArtStreet.

Rebecca Potter and Albino Carrillo of the English department are the LitFest academic advisors. However, Potter swears she played a minimal role, claiming the graduate students in the English department did most of the work.

'They have done an outstanding job this year,' said Potter.

McGlothin, Ryan Bloyd and Bridget Cruttenden are the graduate students organizing this year's LitFest and they promise to uphold the same quality that the conference has had in the past. McGlothin said this year's LitFest has more of a balance between being academic and creative, which is different from past years' LitFests, which were mostly creative.

'Seeing poetry being written and performed by people their own age will make it more accessible to UD students, and make poetry seem like something they can do as well,' said McGlothin.

There will be academic and creative workshops taught by faculty from around the world going on all Saturday at ArtStreet. From 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. there will be workshops relating to the conferences theme, and from 4 to 5:30 p.m. there will be workshops on teaching and writing poetry. Professors and scholars from Ohio, Indiana, Massachusetts, Louisiana and even Mexico will be coming in for the annual event.

Almost all events are free. However, the poetry slam, which will take place Saturday at 9 p.m. in KU Pub, will have a $5 cover charge. Part of the profit will go towards the prize money for the winner of the slam. Dr. Potter says the slam is 'indescribable but a whole lot of fun. It is an expressive way of expressing poetry, and is usually very funny.'

The LitFest will appeal to anyone interested in poetry, writing or reading. It continues to grow in popularity each year as well as inspire those who attend.

'It is a dynamic environment which is fun, but also invigorating,' said Potter, who claims she is not a poet, but is always inspired to compose a couple of poems after attending the conference. She urges everyone to check out this year's LitFest.

More information about this year's LitFest can be found at its Web site, http://academic.udayton.edu/english/litfest.