**Annual Agents & Editors Panel**
Oct. 23, 2008
8pm in Dodge Hall
Every Fall semester OW invites a panel of agents and editors from Americas top publishing houses and literary agencies for a frank, no-holds-barred discussion of what writers of color must know about todays publishing industry. This year's lively discussion was moderated by past second year Rachel Ghansah.
2008 panelists:
Casey Ebro (Arcade Publishing | editor)
Kirby Kim (Endeavor | agent)
Christine Pride (Random House | editor)
Rakesh Satyal (Harper Collins| editor)
Anna Ghosh (Scovil,Galen,Ghosh Agency| agent)
A special thanks to those who joined us in 2007:
Anjali Singh (Houghton Mifflin | editor)
Kirby Kim (Vigliano Associates | agent)
Chris Jackson (Random House | editor)
Amber Qureshi (Simon & Schuster | editor)
Regina Brooks (Serendipity Literary Agency | agent)
**Annual OW Reading**
Every year OW hosts an annual reading that showcases creative work by our second-year members. Come join us for a banquet dinner and a serious show of POC writing.
Where: Philosophy Hall
When: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 @ 8pm
Why: OW second-years kick ass
This year's readers include:
Murwarid Abdiani (nonfiction)
Selena Anderson (fiction)
Harmony Holiday (poetry)
Isankya Kodithuwakku (nonfiction)
Quressa Robinson (fiction)
Nina Schloesser (fiction)
Seema Vora (fiction)
James Yeh (fiction)
Funding is made possible through generous gifts from The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Artist Student Council.
Don't know what you've been missing all these years? Just click here to listen to *both* our 2006 and 2007 readers.
**Happy Hour with Aracelis Girmay**
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Underground Lounge @ 6:30pm
We held a happy hour with Spring 2008's OW author-in-residence, Aracelis Girmay! It was a great time and there were drink specials aplenty. OWers brought themselves and all leftover questions for Aracelis about the writing life. A special thanks to Aracelis for spending this time with us.
**Author-in-Residence**
March 24-28, 2008
Once a semester, Our Word invites an author of color to spend a week as a cultural Author-in-Residence. For Spring 2008, OW was honored to bring Aracelis Girmay to the Writing Division. During her week-long residency, Aracelis met with OW members one-on-one to discuss their writing. She also had dinner with a select number of students to discuss her book of poems, TEETH. We ended the week with dinner catered by Pisticci at our co-president Selena's abode.
AUTHOR BIO:
Aracelis Girmay was raised in Southern California, and is of Eritrean, Puerto Rican and African American decent. She writes poetry, essays and fiction, and holds an MFA in poetry from New York University. A former Watson fellow and Cave Canem fellow, Aracelis has published extensively in journals and literary magazines. She leads community writing workshops throughout New York and California. Her chidren's art book, CHANGING, CHANGING, was published in 2005; TEETH is her first book of poetry. Aracelis currently lives in New York.
Past Authors-in-Residence include:
Uzodinma Iweala
Emily Raboteau
Victor LaValle
Hilton Als
Ernesto Quinonez
Laura Restrepo
Malcom Gladwell
Colson Whitehead
**Happy Hour with Victor LaValle**
Dec. 7, 2007
6:30pm to 10pm @ The Underground Lounge
OW spent the good hours with former author-in-residence Victor LaValle. Good times had by all!
**Ethnicity, Publishing & You: A Roundtable Discussion**
Nov. 13, 2007
7pm in Dodge Hall
Every Fall semester OW invites a panel of agents and editors from Americas top publishing houses and literary agencies for a frank, no-holds-barred discussion of what writers of color must know about todays publishing industry. This year's lively discussion was moderated by past OW leader Rowena Cruz.
2007 panelists:
Anjali Singh (Houghton Mifflin | editor)
Kirby Kim (Vigliano Associates | agent)
Chris Jackson (Random House | editor)
Amber Qureshi (Simon & Schuster | editor)
Regina Brooks (Serendipity Literary Agency | agent)
A special thanks to those who joined OW in 2006:
Johanna Castillo (Simon & Schuster | Atria, editor)
Jennifer Cayea (Avenue A Literary, agent)
Jacqueline Hackett (Watkins/Loomis Agency, agent)
Anna Ghosh (Scovil Chichak, agent)
Clarence Haynes (Doubleday | Harlem Moon, editor)
**SoA Day of Solidarity**
October 16, 2007
In light of the disturbing events on campus concerning Dr. Madonna Constantine at Columbia's Teacher College, we worked with FOCUS (Filmmakers of Color United in Spirit) to host a School of the Arts unity rally and collaborative art project. Students and faculty spoke outside of Dodge Hall and added words and artwork to a cavas that was later presented to Dr. Constantine.
Click here for more on what OW has to say about the recent bias incidents on campus.
**Queer Artists of Color Panel**
April, 26th, 2007
Dodge Hall 413 @ 8:00 pm
We also worked with QUART to develop this panel event. We were lucky to bring to campus performer/slam poet Reggie Cabico, fiction writer Mariana Romo-Carmona, and essayist/editor Steven Fullwood. The three discussed negotiating and marketing identity: How does race/class/ gender/sexual orientation affect your work? How do you navigate between marginalized communities/dominant culture? (This event was made possible by a Kraft Fund grant.)
PANEL BIOS:
Regie Cabico is a spoken word pioneer having won top prizes in the 1993, 1994 and 1997 National Poetry Slams. His work appears in over 30 anthologies including ALOUD: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafι, SPOKEN WORD REVOLUTION and SLAM. He has appeared on two seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam, PBS' In The Life and MTV's Free Your Mind Spoken Word Tour. Regie is the recipient of three New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships for Poetry and Multi-Discplinary Performance.
Mariana Romo-Carmona was born in Santiago, Chile, and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s with her parents when she was 14. She produced the first lesbian and gay bilingual radio program in the late 1970s, co-founded Latina lesbian groups in Boston and NYC, and joined international networks in South America. Romo-Carmona became one of the early members of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press and co-edited the anthology CUENTOS: Stories by Latinas, in 1983.
Steven Fullwood is an essayist, editor and founder of his own press Vintage Entity Press and the writer of dozens of features, essays and reviews in print and online magazines and journals such as Library Journal, Black Issues Book Review, Lambda Book Report, Vibe.com and Africana.com.
**Dinner & Reading with Timothy Liu**
April 17, 2007
Dodge Hall 413 @ 8:30 pm
OW has worked with another Writing Division student group, QUART (Queer Artists), to co-host a dinner and reading with author Timothy Liu. (This event made possible by an Arts Student Council grant.)
**Drinks with Major Jackson**
February 22, 2007
OW spent a happy hour with poet Major Jackson at The Underground Lounge to discuss writing, basketball with Sherman Alexie and how best to dance to Beyonce.
**AWP Conference**
March 8th to 11th, 2006
Austin, Texas
Our Word was invited by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs to represent Columbia University in a seminar about building cultural programs/student groups in MFA programs. The conference hosted OW members Diana Marie Delgado (poetry) and Amanda Pennelly (fiction), as well as OW alum and founder Russell Contreras.
**Margo Jefferson on Michael J**
February 14, 2006
We spent Heart Day with Margo as she read from her latest, ON MICHAEL JACKSON.
**Teaching in Harlem/Washington Heights**
Spring semester
Once a year, OW members can work with CA/T to create free creative writing workshops for members of the Harlem and Washington Heights communities. Workshops are taught by OW members who specialize in different forms of creative writing. Classes are open to fiction, nonfiction, poetry and playwriting applicants. We also encourage teachers to work with younger students on literacy projects as well. OW members can structure the class however they like, and stipends are available for teachers thanks to CA/T.
**How OW got started**
A few photos from when MFA student Victor Cervantes decided we needed a voice back in 2000.
Oct. 23, 2008
8pm in Dodge Hall
Every Fall semester OW invites a panel of agents and editors from Americas top publishing houses and literary agencies for a frank, no-holds-barred discussion of what writers of color must know about todays publishing industry. This year's lively discussion was moderated by past second year Rachel Ghansah.
2008 panelists:
Casey Ebro (Arcade Publishing | editor)
Kirby Kim (Endeavor | agent)
Christine Pride (Random House | editor)
Rakesh Satyal (Harper Collins| editor)
Anna Ghosh (Scovil,Galen,Ghosh Agency| agent)
A special thanks to those who joined us in 2007:
Anjali Singh (Houghton Mifflin | editor)
Kirby Kim (Vigliano Associates | agent)
Chris Jackson (Random House | editor)
Amber Qureshi (Simon & Schuster | editor)
Regina Brooks (Serendipity Literary Agency | agent)
**Annual OW Reading**
Every year OW hosts an annual reading that showcases creative work by our second-year members. Come join us for a banquet dinner and a serious show of POC writing.
Where: Philosophy Hall
When: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 @ 8pm
Why: OW second-years kick ass
This year's readers include:
Murwarid Abdiani (nonfiction)
Selena Anderson (fiction)
Harmony Holiday (poetry)
Isankya Kodithuwakku (nonfiction)
Quressa Robinson (fiction)
Nina Schloesser (fiction)
Seema Vora (fiction)
James Yeh (fiction)
Funding is made possible through generous gifts from The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Artist Student Council.
Don't know what you've been missing all these years? Just click here to listen to *both* our 2006 and 2007 readers.
**Happy Hour with Aracelis Girmay**
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Underground Lounge @ 6:30pm
We held a happy hour with Spring 2008's OW author-in-residence, Aracelis Girmay! It was a great time and there were drink specials aplenty. OWers brought themselves and all leftover questions for Aracelis about the writing life. A special thanks to Aracelis for spending this time with us.
**Author-in-Residence**
March 24-28, 2008
Once a semester, Our Word invites an author of color to spend a week as a cultural Author-in-Residence. For Spring 2008, OW was honored to bring Aracelis Girmay to the Writing Division. During her week-long residency, Aracelis met with OW members one-on-one to discuss their writing. She also had dinner with a select number of students to discuss her book of poems, TEETH. We ended the week with dinner catered by Pisticci at our co-president Selena's abode.
AUTHOR BIO:
Aracelis Girmay was raised in Southern California, and is of Eritrean, Puerto Rican and African American decent. She writes poetry, essays and fiction, and holds an MFA in poetry from New York University. A former Watson fellow and Cave Canem fellow, Aracelis has published extensively in journals and literary magazines. She leads community writing workshops throughout New York and California. Her chidren's art book, CHANGING, CHANGING, was published in 2005; TEETH is her first book of poetry. Aracelis currently lives in New York.
Past Authors-in-Residence include:
Uzodinma Iweala
Emily Raboteau
Victor LaValle
Hilton Als
Ernesto Quinonez
Laura Restrepo
Malcom Gladwell
Colson Whitehead
**Happy Hour with Victor LaValle**
Dec. 7, 2007
6:30pm to 10pm @ The Underground Lounge
OW spent the good hours with former author-in-residence Victor LaValle. Good times had by all!
**Ethnicity, Publishing & You: A Roundtable Discussion**
Nov. 13, 2007
7pm in Dodge Hall
Every Fall semester OW invites a panel of agents and editors from Americas top publishing houses and literary agencies for a frank, no-holds-barred discussion of what writers of color must know about todays publishing industry. This year's lively discussion was moderated by past OW leader Rowena Cruz.
2007 panelists:
Anjali Singh (Houghton Mifflin | editor)
Kirby Kim (Vigliano Associates | agent)
Chris Jackson (Random House | editor)
Amber Qureshi (Simon & Schuster | editor)
Regina Brooks (Serendipity Literary Agency | agent)
A special thanks to those who joined OW in 2006:
Johanna Castillo (Simon & Schuster | Atria, editor)
Jennifer Cayea (Avenue A Literary, agent)
Jacqueline Hackett (Watkins/Loomis Agency, agent)
Anna Ghosh (Scovil Chichak, agent)
Clarence Haynes (Doubleday | Harlem Moon, editor)
**SoA Day of Solidarity**
October 16, 2007
In light of the disturbing events on campus concerning Dr. Madonna Constantine at Columbia's Teacher College, we worked with FOCUS (Filmmakers of Color United in Spirit) to host a School of the Arts unity rally and collaborative art project. Students and faculty spoke outside of Dodge Hall and added words and artwork to a cavas that was later presented to Dr. Constantine.
Click here for more on what OW has to say about the recent bias incidents on campus.
**Queer Artists of Color Panel**
April, 26th, 2007
Dodge Hall 413 @ 8:00 pm
We also worked with QUART to develop this panel event. We were lucky to bring to campus performer/slam poet Reggie Cabico, fiction writer Mariana Romo-Carmona, and essayist/editor Steven Fullwood. The three discussed negotiating and marketing identity: How does race/class/ gender/sexual orientation affect your work? How do you navigate between marginalized communities/dominant culture? (This event was made possible by a Kraft Fund grant.)
PANEL BIOS:
Regie Cabico is a spoken word pioneer having won top prizes in the 1993, 1994 and 1997 National Poetry Slams. His work appears in over 30 anthologies including ALOUD: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafι, SPOKEN WORD REVOLUTION and SLAM. He has appeared on two seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam, PBS' In The Life and MTV's Free Your Mind Spoken Word Tour. Regie is the recipient of three New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships for Poetry and Multi-Discplinary Performance.
Mariana Romo-Carmona was born in Santiago, Chile, and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s with her parents when she was 14. She produced the first lesbian and gay bilingual radio program in the late 1970s, co-founded Latina lesbian groups in Boston and NYC, and joined international networks in South America. Romo-Carmona became one of the early members of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press and co-edited the anthology CUENTOS: Stories by Latinas, in 1983.
Steven Fullwood is an essayist, editor and founder of his own press Vintage Entity Press and the writer of dozens of features, essays and reviews in print and online magazines and journals such as Library Journal, Black Issues Book Review, Lambda Book Report, Vibe.com and Africana.com.
**Dinner & Reading with Timothy Liu**
April 17, 2007
Dodge Hall 413 @ 8:30 pm
OW has worked with another Writing Division student group, QUART (Queer Artists), to co-host a dinner and reading with author Timothy Liu. (This event made possible by an Arts Student Council grant.)
**Drinks with Major Jackson**
February 22, 2007
OW spent a happy hour with poet Major Jackson at The Underground Lounge to discuss writing, basketball with Sherman Alexie and how best to dance to Beyonce.
**AWP Conference**
March 8th to 11th, 2006
Austin, Texas
Our Word was invited by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs to represent Columbia University in a seminar about building cultural programs/student groups in MFA programs. The conference hosted OW members Diana Marie Delgado (poetry) and Amanda Pennelly (fiction), as well as OW alum and founder Russell Contreras.
**Margo Jefferson on Michael J**
February 14, 2006
We spent Heart Day with Margo as she read from her latest, ON MICHAEL JACKSON.
**Teaching in Harlem/Washington Heights**
Spring semester
Once a year, OW members can work with CA/T to create free creative writing workshops for members of the Harlem and Washington Heights communities. Workshops are taught by OW members who specialize in different forms of creative writing. Classes are open to fiction, nonfiction, poetry and playwriting applicants. We also encourage teachers to work with younger students on literacy projects as well. OW members can structure the class however they like, and stipends are available for teachers thanks to CA/T.
**How OW got started**
A few photos from when MFA student Victor Cervantes decided we needed a voice back in 2000.
