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:
Andres Santiago Piña
Andres Santiago Piña is an actor/writer/solo performer/disrupter/activist/educator who once called Long Island City home.. As a writer- anthology of short stories of 146 street and Amsterdam, poems and misdemeanors, miss me with you- a collection of short stories on relationships. Andres earned a MFA degree from Columbia University.
Luvon Roberson
Luvon Roberson writes poetry, flash fiction, narrative performance, and ethnographic fiction. She founded Riverside Writing Group to build community of social justice writers in 2021 and is a founding member of Thursday Morning Poets, birthed in workshop by Queens Poet Laureate and Academy of American Poets Fellow Maria Lisella. In 2023, she was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her chapbook, Black Girl June Memories Done Been Changed, includes tribute poems and prose to her childhood in Corona-East Elmhurst.
Lisa D. Wade
Lisa D. Wade (Addisleigh Park, Queens) is a new writer, photographer, artist, curator and historian. She expresses herself intuitively in a loud voice. As a visual artist she has had numerous solo and group exhibitions. Her curatorial work was recently at Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning for a residency that she managed.
Joseph Qiao
Joseph Qiao (Flushing, Queens) is a rising college freshman interested in comparative literature, writing, sociology, and statistics. He loves magical realist works, but his favorite book is Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things—which is not magical realist. He has an upcoming “anthology” of prose, poetry, and photography, Flushing’s American Motifs: Love, Identity, & Yearning (FAM:ILY), which will feature pieces workshopped in the Lewis Latimer House’s 2024 Memoir and Autobiographical Writing Workshops!
Mijounga Chang
Mijounga Chang (Astoria, Queens) is a social designer and cultural worker who catalyzes place-based collaboration work to build community and enable change. Mijounga champions truth-based storytelling and socially engaged art through writing and other media. She has produced for Asia Pacific Forum Radio on WBAI-NY and has partnered with independent documentary filmmakers to produce and share underrepresented stories for public television. As a diasporic Korean-born woman, Mijounga’s life and work have been dynamically shaped by a plurality of cultures, communities and realities. She received her MA in Collaborative Design/Design Systems from Pacific Northwest College of Art, and a BA in Subaltern Cultural Studies from Mount Holyoke College.
Esther Pang
Esther Pang (Flushing, Queens) is currently the Executive Director at March On Foundation, an intersectional nonprofit driven by the potential of every community organizer to create meaningful social impact. She serves on the Board for Right To Be, a people-powered movement building a world that is free of harassment and B Local NYC, supporting business as a force for good movement in the city. She is the founder of Climate Curator, “curated for the naturally curious”, which explores how the creative communities have responded to climate change. She received her B.S. in Communications from NYU, and M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University. Esther grew up in Hong Kong and NYC, where she has lived in all boroughs except for one.
Jennifer Cendaña Armas
Jennifer Cendaña Armas is a Corona and Jackson Heights born and raised director-actor-writer-singer-dancer-community worker telling stories of diaspora. She recently co-directed Brave New World at Brooklyn Academy of Music for their Arts & Justice Program and had her first visual arts installation at Recess Art at the top of this year. 2022 Harlem Stage WaterWorks Emerging Artist and 2021 NYC Artist Corps awardee for Story Of A Romance, which she wrote, directed, and co-starred.
Emilia Fiallo
Emilia Fiallo, is an educator with over a decade of experience. She founded UndocuTeacher, an initiative born from her personal journey as an undocumented individual for twenty years and her professional experience as a teacher. Dedicated to supporting immigrant youth, Emilia's work extends beyond education into her passion for writing. She’s most proud of her contribution to the anthology featuring stories from undocumented and formerly undocumented writers, SomeWhere We Are Human. She resides in Jamaica, Queens with her husband David and their beloved border collie, Helen.