[1] It accomplishes its mission through a variety of programs and partnerships and by serving as a forum for the discussion, reading, research, study, and critical analysis of Black literature.
The event, a public gathering, has consistently attracted an array of renowned writers and scholars, including Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Edwidge Danticat, Michael Eric Dyson, Charles Johnson, Paule Marshall, Haki Madhubuti, Walter Mosley, David Levering Lewis, Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Tracy K. Smith, Quincy Troupe, Alice Walker, Derek Walcott, John Edgar Wideman, John A. Williams, and Colson Whitehead among others.
Honorees Carl Clay, Dominique Morisseau, Stanley Nelson, Voza Rivers, and Richard Wesley were recognized for their outstanding contributions and work in theater and film.
A town hall forum with Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti and journalist Ashley Johnson and a conversation with Michael Eric Dyson and Khalil Gibran Muhammad were featured events during the Conference.
Haki Madhubuti, Herb Boyd, Ron Daniels, and Michael Simanga engaged in a roundtable discussion and critical response to Manning Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.
Participating authors included Walter Dean Myers, Elizabeth Nunez, Willie Perdomo, Ishmael Reed, Quincy Troupe, and Tananarive Due among others.
2004 — 7th NBWC: "A Tribute to Activist and Writer John Oliver Killens" Gil Noble, host of the award-winning television show Like It Is, delivered the keynote address for the Conference.
Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Mos Def, Farai Chideya, Abiodun Oyewole, and John A. Williams were among the featured authors and panelists.
2003 — 6th NBWC: "Literature as Access: Connecting to Ourselves, Our Communities, Our Histories" Poets Amiri Baraka, Linda Susan Jackson, Louis Reyes Rivera, and Tracy K. Smith were among the featured writers participating at the Conference.