Name: InspiredWordNYC Presents Queens VOICES: A Poetry & Spoken Word Experience
Start: 2024-08-01T19:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-12-05T20:30:00-04:00
Location: Urban Vegan Roots

InspiredWordNYC Presents Queens VOICES: A Poetry & Spoken Word Experience, celebrating the literary arts at Urban Vegan Roots in Astoria.
About this Event
Event Photos

InspiredWordNYC (http://inspiredwordnyc.com), the creator of the Queens Lit Fest, presents Queens VOICES: A Poetry & Spoken Word Experience @ Urban Vegan Roots in artsy Astoria Queens.

This is an amazing and amazingly diverse phenomenon of an event celebrating Queens-based literary artists. Our mission: to create something BIG for Queens!

All Ages Welcome.

$12 Early Bird General Admission Tickets include a $5 food/drink ticket up to 3 days before the event. Tickets go up to $15 after that via this page and at the door.

Featuring Dynamic Poets, Writers, Spoken Word Artists, Performance Artists from the largest, most diverse borough in New York City.

Thursday, September 5
7-8pm

Featured Poets/Spoken Word Artists

Aileen Bassis is a visual artist and poet in Long Island City working in book arts, printmaking, photography and installation. Her use of text in art led her to study the craft of poetry. She’s the author of two chapbooks, “The Other Side of the Mirror” (Dark Onus Press) and “Advice for Travelers and other poems” (Black Sunflowers Press). Her journal publications include B o d y Literature, Spillway, Grey Sparrow Journal, Canary, The Pinch and Prelude. She was awarded two poetry residencies to the Atlantic Center for the Arts and a literary project grant from the Queens Arts Fund.

Roger "Wyze" Smith (Poetry, 2019) is a Brooklyn born, Queens native of Bajan heritage. He has published multiple collections of poetry, Laundromats & Lounges (2013) and Chambers of a Beating Heart (2015). His chapbook entitled French Kissed Black Roses won third place in Local Gems NaPoWriMo chapbook contest, and has most recently released his latest project Radiation Machine Gun Funk (2023) published by The Word Works, based off his life experiences, creative work, and thesis from the MFA in Creative Writing program at Queens College where he graduated in 2017.

Chris Cee is an artist, writer and poet proudly raised in Southside Jamaica, Queens. Growing up shy yet with so much to express, Chris has been involved in the arts from the age of 7 has always been marveled by the power of self-expression and through writing, found her voice. Whether it’d be stories or journaling, writing has always brought her a sense of relief and joy. Her work is inspired by the main character energy that comes with being a New Yorker, the sounds of R&B and artist’s whose music creatively tell stories like Jill Scott, and Lady London. As a black millennial of immigrant parents, Chris’s work is often through this lens and she leverages her background in psychology by incorporating introspective prompts for her audience because she believes healing is a community effort. She says: “I write for all versions of myself, the inner child, teen and adult. Of course, it’s touching to relate to others. It’s easy to think you’re isolated in an experience. Through my work, I hope to affirm others that we’re sharing this human experience and empower them to seek their own truth.”

Yanique, who adopted the name Unique on Purpose to embrace the individuality, is a poet from Jamaica, Queens. She's been writing since the age of 12 and used her gift for words for empowerment, strength, and inspiration. She has published two books in the last couple of years 2 years and performed spoken word at numerous venues, including, JCAL, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and Inspired Word NYC. She has written on topics from love, to advocacy, to strength and belonging. My poetic influences include Jaylene Clark Owens, Rudy Francisco, and Shay the poet. She aims to give the speechless a voice, and this poetic experience will leave you feeling liberated and excited to try all the things you’ve been too afraid to do.

Address: 34-47 31st Street, Astoria, Queens, NY 11106

If you can't make it for any reason, you can give your ticket to a friend. You can also donate to the featured artists through the donation option in tickets.

By subway, take the N Train to 36th Avenue. Walk along 31st Street until you get to the restaurant, under the subway tracks.

Produced by the world famous https://inspiredwordnyc.comFounded by award-winning journalist Mike Geffner in 2009Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @InspiredWordNYC.