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Our National Planners

Known affectionately as “The Brain Trust,” the ZORA! Festival National Planners first met in 1991 in preparation for the 5th Annual ZORA! Festival, “An International Celebration,” scheduled to take place in January 1994.

Its members came from the ranks of America’s most distinguished scholars, cultural and civic leaders; and, ultimately, it was they who were responsible for establishing the stature of the ZORA! Festival as an award-winning , internationally recognized event. The current members continue the tradition established by their predecessors.

N.Y. Nathiri, MS (Library Science)

Executive Director

Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.)
Lyman Brodie

Executive Associate Dean and
Professor of Music
University of Central Florida Orlando, FL

Julian C. Chambliss, Ph.D.

Professor of English &

Val Berryman Curator of History

MSU Museum, Michigan State University Lansing, MI
Honorable Johnny Ford

The World Conference of Mayors, Inc. (WCM)

Council Member, City of Tuskegee

Tuskegee, AL 

Vivian D. Geary, CMP

Senior Event Planner

Universal Orlando Resort
Orlando, FL

Lonnie Graham, MFA

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Visual Art

Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA

Maryemma Graham, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita

University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS

Michelle Bachelor Robinson, Ph.D.

Spelman College
Atlanta, GA

Trent Tomengo, MFA

Distinguished Professor

Seminole State College of Florida
Sanford, FL

Eleanor Traylor, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita
Howard University
Washington, D.C.

N.Y. Nathiri, M.S. (Library Science)

Executive Director, Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.) & "Eatonville Rising" Project Manager

N.Y. Nathiri, M.S. (Library Science), “Eatonville Rising” Project Manager, is the executive director of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.), a historic preservation/cultural arts/community revitalization organization committed to promoting the town’s considerable heritage and historical resources as a means for its revitalization and economic development.

Under her leadership, P.E.C. has earned national recognition for its programs and festivals. Nathiri holds a B.A. in history from Ithaca College, an M.S. in library science from Syracuse University, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Rollins College. She is the editor of ZORA! Zora Neale Hurston: A Woman and Her Community and serves as Vice President for Cultural Heritage Tourism for the Historic Black Towns and Settlements Alliance.

Julian C. Chambliss, Ph.D.

Professor of English & Val Berryman Curator of History, MSU Museum, Michigan State University

Julian C. Chambliss, Ph.D. (Celebrating Zora Neale Hurston’s World Conference), is a Professor of English and the Val Berryman Curator of History at the MSU Museum, Michigan State University.He is a co-director of the Digital Humanities and Literary Cognition Lab (DHLC) and faculty lead for the Graphic Possibilities Comic Research Workshop in the Department of English.

His research explores race and identity in the context of Popular Culture, Afrofuturism, and Digital Humanities. His documentary on Afrofuturism, entitled Afrofantastic: The Transformative World of Afrofuturism (2023), is available through PBS.org.