Twenty-one popular African American writers will visit the Ralph Ellison Library in person on Saturday, June 17, as part of the library's Juneteenth celebration.

Susie Beasley, Manager of Library Operations at the Ralph Ellison Library, defines Juneteenth as "the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S. It's the observance of June 19 th , 1865 , which is considered to be the African-American Emancipation Day."

The event is co-sponsored by the Families First Foundation and Ralph Ellison to expose the OKC communities to the diverse population of African American authors, promote the importance of literacy, and encourage readers to meet the authors in order to purchase and have their books autographed. Readers will have the opportunity to discuss publishing possibilities as several authors own and operate publishing companies.

Authors scheduled to participate in the event include Carolyn Anderson, Charles Biggers, Sean Chandler, Stephana I. Colbert & Valerie I. Harrison, Patricia Jones, Rashun Jones, Michelle Larks, Shandra Love, MBridges, Greg McCarroll, Christal Jordon Mims, Therone Shellman, Antuan Simmons, Mocha Sistah, Ty Smith, Crystal Perkins Stell, Makya Stell, Bryce Turner, Kendal S. Turner, Serena Wallace, e.nikole, and Roxanne Zeigler.

"This is going to be the biggest event like this we'll see for a long time to come," Beasley added. "We couldn't be more excited."

The Ralph Ellison Library is located at 2000 N.E. 23 rd Street in Oklahoma City . The event is come and go from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., free, and open to the public.

Other sponsors of the event include Sisters Sippin Tea Book Club, Metropolitan Urban League Guild, Fire Mountain Restaurant, Step Up To Excellence, Inc., Tri-Com Publicity, www.looseleaves.org , Joy & Trinity Printing, LLC, Sadie's Coffee House, Chili's, Photography by Toni, A Pocket Full of Hope, Inc., Fresh Jamz 105.3, Soild Foundation Preparatory Academy.

For more information call the library at 424-1437.

The Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma County includes 12 libraries and five extension libraries. Libraries include Belle Isle, Capitol Hill, Ralph Ellison, Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library and Southern Oaks in Oklahoma City, as well as Bethany, Choctaw, Del City, Edmond, Midwest City, Village and Warr Acres. Extensions are located in the communities of Harrah, Jones, Luther and Nicoma Park and include Wright Library in Oklahoma City . You can also reach us at www.metrolibrary.org.