The second annual Towards an Africa Without Borders Conference is being held this weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to bring together international and local panelists and activists to exchange ideas and debate issues related to Africa.

The conference, organized by the Africa Without Borders student organization, features many prestigious poets, scholars and AIDS researchers speaking in various forums taking place over three days.

Africa Without Borders encourages UW students, along with the Madison community, to attend the conference, which will give attendees the opportunity to engage in discussion with the speakers about Africa's diverse issues, according to Skye Christensen, a UW senior involved in the AWB organizing committee.

"I attended the 2003 conference last year," Christensen said in an email. "It was unrivaled, in my mind, by any other fall event."

Featured speakers include poet and writer Sonia Sanchez, author and journalist Na'eem Jeenah, AIDS researcher Dr. Heena Brahmbhatt and Frank Chipasula, a poet, editor and fiction writer. Speakers will be joined by many other local and international scholars, activists and researchers.

The committee went to great lengths to bring in many scholars from Africa and the U.S., Christensen added.

The AWB organization hoped to include a women's panel during this year's conference. They were unable to do so because all of the women AWB asked to come, including 70 percent of the international scholars who were pursued by AWB, were denied visas, according to Denise St. Clair, publicity coordinator of the AWB organization.

"An addition to this year's agenda is the activist's forum," St. Clair said. "This will give the participants the opportunity to have an open discussion."

The activist forum will take place today in the Educational Sciences building at 5 p.m. in room 204.

Other highlights of the conference include the community reception Saturday with a reading performed by Sonia Sanchez. Additionally, a Literature and Resistance panel will be held today at 1 p.m., followed by a book signing. Sunday morning, a discussion of Education and Transformation will be held at 9 a.m.

"There is something for everyone," St. Clair said. "Even though the focus is generally on Africa, we are dealing with topics such as literature, education, AIDS and financial issues that would interest many students."

The conference was started in hopes of bringing together scholars, political activists and writers to discuss theoretical and practical approaches to bring change and unify Africa, according to the organization's website.

This year will be even more exciting, according to St. Clair, because of the opportunity the organization had to offer scholarships to their panelists, which allowed a wider range of international activists to come to Madison and provide insight on different subjects pertaining to Africa.

Last year brought an estimated attendance of 2,000 people to hear 45 panelists. St. Clair hopes these numbers will increase this year by attracting more students and people from the Madison area to the conference.

"We are really trying to reach out to the community, despite the fact that we are a student-based organization," St. Clair said