8 writers from Queens will share their stories through writing on the topics of race and immigration. Friends, family, and others welcome!
This spring, a group of 8 writers gathered at the Lewis Latimer House Museum to explore the topics of race & immigration. We will celebrate the conclusion of the workshop with readings by the participants. Join us to hear the incredible stories they have to tell. Friends, family, and others welcome!
The reading is facilitated by the workshop instructor Abeer Hoque.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council.
About the writers:
Ana Reza
Ana Reza was born in Mexico City. She moved to New York looking for new challenges to improve her personal and professional life. From an early age, she enjoyed writing short stories and studied journalism. Since then, she is hungry to communicate her ideas and thoughts in the English language. She has discovered that there is no small window to be able to write and share her dreams.
Angel Sutjipto
Angel Sutjipto was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and has resided on Lenape and Matinecock lands for the past 20 years. Angel is a writer, an only child, and aspiring troublemaker who realized that disappointing their immigrant mom did not bring about the end of the world.
René Sing Brooks
René Sing Brooks, born on the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast in 1961, is a writer, photographer, and digital filmmaker living in Jackson Heights, New York. He has written for OpenStax at Rice University in Texas, for AM NEW YORK, and for the Pulitzer Center. He is a 2020 Pulitzer Center alumnus.
Shirley Velasquez
Shirley Velasquez is a writer, editor and digital media strategist based in Jackson Heights, Queens. After a career dedicated to writing about inspiring women in the United States and beyond, she is bringing her attention and storytelling to the local people making New York City a better place to live.
Soniya Munshi
Soniya Munshi is a writer whose fiction and non-fiction projects take up themes of feminist interdependence, structures of care, and grief and loss as processes of transformation. She is a nibling devotee, an enneagram enthusiast, and a lover of autumn asters. Soniya is based in Queens, the borough that raised her.
Sunehra Subah
Sunehra Subah is the proud daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants. She was born and raised in Ozone Park (big love to the A train!), and can be found romanticizing her life while walking around the local supermarket. She finds writing to be a form of care, and is excited to heal with you all!
Tiffani Shiyu Ren
Tiffani Shīyǔ Ren is a writer born and raised in Queens by a collective of resilient Chinese women. She works in publishing at One World, and is passionate about championing authors who dream of ways to make our society more equitable. In her free time, she enjoys crafting book earrings and wandering NYC with her loved ones.
Wanda Best
Wanda Best, MA, MPA worked thirty years educating the community around the issues of intimate partner violence, domestic violence, elder abuse and teen dating violence. The Founder and Executive Director of Art Transforms, Inc., a non-profit organization. She uses visual arts to communicate and educate about social injustice issues.