Francis’s Archive: The 40th Anniversary of the Sixth World Literature Conference

The Paradise Strong Book Study presents a special historical meeting commemorating the 40th anniversary of Narcotics Anonymous’ Sixth World Literature Conference, held in Miami, Florida, in September 1981.

The World Literature Conferences were an extraordinary period in NA history. Members from across the Fellowship came together to write, review, organize, and shape the material that would eventually become the Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text. By the time members gathered for the Sixth World Literature Conference, years of work at conferences, regional literature committees, workshops, and through correspondence had brought the Fellowship closer than ever to having its own book.

Chris and Boyd from Preserving the Message join the Paradise Strong Book Study and take us back into that history through a PowerPoint presentation, archival material, and the voices of members who participated in the literature movement.

During the presentation, we hear historical audio from Charles K., Sally Evans, Doug W., and Mary Banner, offering firsthand memories of the conference and the remarkable grassroots effort that surrounded the writing of the Basic Text.

The meeting then opens for discussion and sharing. Bo S., Charles K., Al R., Mark B., Bryant S., Henry S., and Pete B. add their own experience, memories, and reflections on the literature movement and the history being preserved.

The Sixth World Literature Conference represents an important chapter in the story of NA literature—a time when recovering addicts took responsibility for putting their collective experience into words. That work helped carry the Basic Text toward the 1982 World Service Conference, where the book was approved by the Fellowship’s service structure, followed by publication of the First Edition in 1983.

Five years ago, members gathered to remember what had happened forty years earlier. Today, Francis’s Archive brings that meeting back so another generation can hear the history in the voices of those who helped live it.