Join NY Writers Coalition (NYWC), one of the Park Slope 100, as they celebrate New York Immigrant Heritage Week with a reading series at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
The talented children and adult readers this month come from all over the world from Yemen to Mexico, Guyana to Japan. Iraqi poet and novelist Sinan Antoon (author of Baghdad Blues, Harbor Mountain Press, and I’jam: An Iraqi Rhapsody, City Light Books) will also be featured.
According to the most recent U.S. census, about three million of the city’s eight million residents are foreign-born. NYWC has created niche writing workshops which cater to this significant population in New York City. Abdel Baidhani, a member of the Arab American Family Support Center workshop, and Luz Aguirre, a member of “Mano a Mano” (a Latin-American-focused workshop) will share their work at the event. NYWC has also provided a variety of groups where people with similar interests (whether they are foreign or U.S.-born) can write together—one of the readers, Jacqueline Carter-Cutting, is part of the of the Brooklyn Veterans Center workshop. Yasuko Nasasawa, another presenter, attends the 14th Street Y workshop (which caters to seniors). Aidan Amog, who will also read, is a regular at the kids workshop at Fort Greene Park.
The Writing Aloud Reading Series showcases the creative voices of at-risk youth, the homeless and formerly homeless, the formerly incarcerated, LGBT homeless youth, seniors, residents of supportive housing, and countless others who aren’t heard from often enough in our society.
READERS: Sinan Antoon, Aidan Amog, Abdel Baidhani, Jacqueline Carter-Cutting, and Yasuko Nasasawa
WHEN: Monday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Greenlight Bookstore
686 Fulton St.
Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Cost: Free!
ABOUT NY WRITERS COALITION INC.
Founded in 2001, NYWC is one of the largest community writing organizations in the country. NYWC creates opportunities for formerly voiceless members of society to be heard through the art of writing. We provide free, unique and powerful creative writing workshops throughout New York City for people from groups that have been historically deprived of voice in our society, including at-risk and disconnected youth, the homeless and formerly homeless, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, war veterans, people with disabilities, cancer and major illness, immigrants, seniors and others. Since emerging in 2002, NYWC has won awards from the Union Square Awards and Petra Foundation, and received program grants from local and national funders including Time Warner, the Pinkerton Foundation, Independence Community Foundation, Hot Topic Foundation, the Kalliopeia Foundation, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the NY State Council on the Arts and others. Our workshop participants have been featured on The New York Times Blog, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show and The Huffington Post, in stories about NYWC.