Join us for a day of storytelling, food and music with Queens local artists!
Lewis Latimer House Museum and Queens Writer Roxanne Scott co-present The History of Queens, NY in 7 Dishes: A Live Anthology.
Queens is known as the world’s borough and while there has been much celebration about the food scene, this event honors the borough's racial and immigrant history from the vantage of its residents of color.
Hosted by Abeer Hoque, the event features storytelling performances about food and themes of identity, grief, love, joy and family by Queens writers of color; Music by local musicians Katrina Sortera and Robin Wong. Food and drinks will be provided.
*See host, writers and musicians’ bios below.
This event is made possible (in part)with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.
Host:
Abeer Hoque
Abeer Hoque is a Nigerian-born Bangladeshi American writer and photographer. Her books include a travel photography and poetry monograph (The Long Way Home, 2013), a linked collection of stories, poems, and photographs (The Lovers and the Leavers, 2015), and a memoir (Olive Witch, 2017). See more at olivewitch.com.
Writers:
Ahalia Persaud
Ahalia Persaud, has no middle name. Born in Queens and raised in Brooklyn by Indo-Guyanese immigrants. Ahalia is on a mission to find the perfect beach, enjoys dancing and you can always find her on the subway reading a book. Her love language is quality time. She is a Leo.
Ana Reza
Ana Reza was born in Mexico City. She moved to New York City in search of new challenges to improve her personal and professional life. From a very young age, she enjoyed writing short stories and decided to study journalism, a career she is passionate about. Since then, she has been eager to communicate her ideas and thoughts, now exploring the English language. She has discovered that there is no small window to share her thoughts, so she is always open to new challenges in writing.
José Alfredo Menjivar Ortéz
José Alfredo is a writer, teacher educator and researcher. He writes about being Honduran-New Yorker, bilingual, queer, cooking and food memories, education research and policy. All of these interests and aspects of his identity make sense if you know him personally, and/or know his life story.
Marlena Matute
Marlena Matute is the daughter of immigrant parents. An art and design historian by education, she currently works as a marketing and communications professional. Her work has been published in several digital platforms including The Artifice, Refinery29, I Am Enough (blog) and “P.S. The Blog'' by Dia&Co. She also writes about NYC life, affordability and plus size fashion on her blog, “Big City, Curvy Girl, Thin Wallet.” When she isn’t apartment hunting for an affordable apartment in Queens, she’s either window shopping for new outfits to feature on her blog or attempting to make a dent to her TBR shelf.
Roxanne Scott
Roxanne Scott is a writer and journalist from Southeast Queens. She’s reported on everything from a hot air balloon community in Kentucky to housing disparities in New York City. In her free time, she can be found on Jamaica Avenue in a fabric store or eating a beef patty with coco bread.
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.
Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez
Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez (she/they) is a writer and educator living in Queens, New York. They are a Mexican immigrant, raised in Cicero, Illinois. Their stories have been published in Huellas Magazine, Newtown Literary, Strange Horizons, The Acentos Review, Longreads, Okay Donkey, Reckon Review, and elsewhere. Sonia’s writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fiction, and Best Microfiction.
Musicians:
Katrina Sotera
katrina sotera is a filipinx & costa rican-american alternative R&B singer songwriter from Queens, NY, whose music explores what it means to transmute pain into power. katrina’s debut EP: Notes On Becoming is an intimate journey through diaspora, anxiety, war, heartbreak, and healing. katrina studied performing arts through Oberlin College and LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts. She has performed at NYC venues such as DROM and Culture Lab.
Robin Wong
Robin Wong is a fl(a)utist, producer, and musical nomad based in nyc. He specializes in electro-acoustic performance blurring the lines between Jazz, Pop, and Lo-Fi to create tracks from orchestral sounds, robot pianos, and the occasional fruit. Robin studied Computer Science, Improvisation, and World music at Oberlin College. He’s currently teaching robots to respond to music.