AN EVENING WITH AUTHORS

Moderator, An Evening With Authors

African American Film Critics Association

Gil L. Robertson IV is co-founder and President of the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA), the premier body of Black film critics in the world that produces the annual AAFCA Awards, an important event on the Hollywood Awards Calendar. 

Robertson is a veteran journalist with more than 50 national magazine covers to his credit. He is also a regular contributor to The African American Almanac (Gale Press), and the author of Writing as a Tool of Empowerment, a resource book for aspiring journalists.  .As an editor, he is responsible for 3 successful anthologies, Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African American Community (2013), Family Affair: What it Means to be African American Today (2008), selected as “Pick of the Week” by Publisher’s Weekly and the classic Not in My Family: AIDS in the African American Community (2006), the latter two nominated for NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Nonfiction. His first Children’s book, Great African American Political Leaders (Just Us Books) was released in 2016.

Robertson is often seen on popular TV talk shows sharing his expertise on entertainment and social issues. He also frequently lectures for college and corporate audiences. 

A Los Angeles native, Robertson earned a B.A. degree in Political Science from Cal State Los Angeles. He serves on the Board for the Geena Davis Institute and California Humanities. Additionally, he’s a member of the National Press Club, The National Association of Black Journalists, The National Academy of Recording Arts & Science, The National Academy of Television Arts and Science and MPAA.

Hall of Fame Honoree | Panelist, An Evening With Authors

Antwone Fisher joins An Evening With Authors as a featured panelist and 2026 Hall of Fame Honoree, bringing a voice grounded in lived experience, reflection, and literary truth-telling. Best known for his memoir Finding Fish, which became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into the feature film directed by Denzel Washington, Fisher’s work explores identity, healing, forgiveness, and belonging with honesty and restraint.

As the founder of Glenville House Press, Fisher continues to use storytelling to preserve cultural memory and elevate voices shaped by survival and resilience. His most recent book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, extends that work through personal essays that reflect on Black history as it is lived through family, place, and experience. His participation in this evening brings depth to a conversation that bridges literature, film, and the enduring power of Black storytelling.

Hall of Fame Honoree | Panelist, An Evening With Authors

In addition to being honored as one of Our Authors Study Club’s 2026 Living Legends, Denise Nicholas joins An Evening With Authors as a featured panelist, bringing a rare perspective shaped by a lifetime at the intersection of activism, performance, and literature. A founding member of the Free Southern Theatre and the Negro Ensemble Company, Nicholas has long used storytelling as a tool for social consciousness and historical preservation.

As the author of Freshwater Road and Finding Home, her writing draws directly from lived experience, including her participation in Freedom Summer, and reflects on identity, memory, and the responsibility of artists to bear witness. Her work bridges civil rights history, literary craft, and cultural reflection, making her voice central to a conversation that connects Black storytelling across generations and mediums.