Idlewild Jazz Festival

DuBois-Chesnutt Writing Institute

The DuBois- Chesnutt Writing Institute is named in honor of W.E.B. DuBois and Charles W. Chesnutt.

The institute was created to provide aspiring writers and authors with an opportunity to present their works, conduct panel discussions covering various topics such as how to improve writing skills, motivational techniques and to explore publishing and marketing tips.

DuBois, one of the founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the author of The Souls of Black Folk, traveled to Idlewild and in 1921 wrote about his visit in the Crisis magazine:

“For sheer physical beauty- for sheen of water and golden air, for nobleness of tree and flower of shrub, for shining river and song of bird and the low, moving whisper of sun, moon and star, it is the beautifulest stretch I have seen for twenty years.

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Whatever you have in little and with one now and then we have every day with men and women from everywhere and this is the Soul of Idlewild, and to prove it, listen: For the first time in my life I bought a lot- a little silvery point, dark with oak, that pursued the lovely lake, and I named it Bois du Bois”

Chesnutt, one of the most widely read fiction writers of his era, wrote The Conjure Woman, The House Behind the Cedars, The Marrow of Tradition, the Wife of His Youth and Stories of the Color Line and The Colonel’s Dream.

Each summer during the 1920s, Chesnutt and his family journeyed from Cleveland, Ohio to vacation in Idlewild by either driving by automobile the entire distance or taking a boat from Cleveland to Detroit and completing the trip by automobile. After renting a cottage, the Chesnutts built a summer cottage in Idlewild in 1925. Like DuBois, Chesnutt also marveled about his wonderful experiences in Idlewild:

“Last summer I spent my vacation at a summer resort, and every night I would go up to the [Idlewild] Clubhouse where there was a good band and dancing floor, and dance the whole program through to the Home Waltz.”

Chesnutt was also an avid fisherman. His Idlewild fishing buddy was Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (also known as “Dr. Dan”. In 1893, he became the first physician to perform open heart surgery). Chesnutt wrote to his daughter Ethel about his fishing experiences:

“I also spent a lot of time fishing and rowing; caught so many black bass and blue- gills that your mother got tired of cooking them”.

In a letter to his son Edwin, Chesnutt discussed his luck with fishing in Idlewild:

“I left some bass in the lake for you with necessary equipment to take them out. However, fishing for bass is a business in itself. I had better luck than last year, but not anything to boast of as it was.

I hope you will enjoy yourself in Idlewild, and will drop me a line from time to time when the spirit moves you.”

In January 2008 the U.S. Postal Service featured Charles Chesnutt as the 31st postage stamp in the Black Heritage Series.

There is no writer fee or separate admission to participate in the DuBois-Chesnutt Writing Institute. All interested writers please click here.