We hope you’ll join us for our Culture Connection event A Spring Evening with Color Purple Broadway Star Joaquina Kalukango, on Thursday, April 6 at 6:30 p.m. at Central Library. Joaquina’s evening of songs and music will be directed by Charles Duke, a talented performer who has entertained us several times at the Library.
Charles Duke is an award-winning songwriter, music director, classically trained pianist, arranger, singer, and composer residing in Harlem. His work fuses jazz, soul, pop, and classical elements with engaging lyrical imagery. He has performed at Lincoln Center and held residencies throughout Manhattan. His arrangements have been performed on MSNBC. As a pianist, he has been regularly engaged at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Robert Restaurant at Columbus Circle. He has performed in the Off-Broadway hit musical Sleep No More and for the NYCLU’s Broadway Stands Up For Freedom. As a socially conscious artist, Charles has curated performing arts concerts raising thousands of dollars for the New York Civil Liberties Union and for arts education. He has produced and released four EPs and is currently working on his first album.
Charles was kind enough to answer some questions for us before his upcoming event.
What role have libraries played in your life?
Libraries have been central in my life from an early age. In elementary school, they represented the place for me to explore my creativity, imagination, and relationship with language. Throughout my education, the library has always represented and been a place of aspiration, knowledge, and access.
What can our customers expect at your upcoming event here at Queens Library? Are you excited to work with Joaquina Kalukango?
Everyone should come and see this show! Joaquina is a force, an immense talent, and her voice is simply stunning. And she's a wonderful person. I have enjoyed this process immensely. We happen to both be from Georgia and went to high school only miles apart.
Which performers and albums have inspired your career as a musician?
That's such a challenging question to answer. I would have to say The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill definitely had a profound impact on me from a philosophical and spiritual relationship to music. Most recently, Laura Mvula's album The Dreaming Room has deeply touched me and has been part of my life's soundtrack. Her combination of classical music with soulfully rich texture and heartfelt lyricism inspires me in my craft. And it's something I relate to with my writing process.
Speaking of your writing process, you wrote your own poetry before you began songwriting. Which do you think is easier? And do you still write poetry?
Honestly, now I think writing songs is much easier than writing poetry. Writing poetry was an important part of the process, though. I find now that, in my case, there are some things that I am able to express more deeply with a chord or a melody than with a word alone. With that said, in my writing process each word, even an article, holds importance. And yes, I still write poetry.
This is your fourth time joining us at Queens Library, and we’re glad to have you back! What are your favorite things about performing here?
My favorite things about Queens Library are the people, the community, and the Culture Connection programming that Dan Zaleski has curated. Dan is a unique individual in that he has been able to bring together people from diverse backgrounds to create and share, in community, their gifts and passions. New York City’s three public library systems, as a unit, continue to wow me. They provide instant access to some of the greatest minds, artists, writers, speakers, and content creators on a regular basis.
What are some of your favorite books and who are your favorite authors?
I read different books for different reasons, but these three, given my focus, are consistently on my top list—Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones, The Big Sea by Langston Hughes, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
Quincy Jones is legendary and a huge inspiration to me. I actually met him a few years ago here in New York City. The Big Sea was given to me as a gift shortly after I moved to Harlem. (“The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes was one of the first poems I learned to recite in the fourth grade.) I felt like I was seeing New York City through his eyes. It made Langston a human being for me and not only a legend. The last paragraph of Their Eyes Were Watching God changed my life. Zora's use of language still hasn't let me go. It left me thinking, "My goodness, how rich can life be?" I hadn't known that type of power and transformation before, but I knew I wanted to have the kind of impact on someone through art that she, through language, had on me.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to be a professional musician?
My advice would be to study and learn your craft. Do music because you are passionate about it and because you have to. Create because that is what makes your soul come alive. The most poignant and beautiful and scary and thrilling advice I have ever received (it was echoed to me on three separate occasions before arriving in New York City) is to embrace the journey. Every performance is important and another chance to share with gratitude what you love doing with the world.
Who was up bright and early for a bus ride to Albany? Our dedicated library supporters, that’s who!
Over 100 patrons, staff members, and Friends of the Library joined us at the break of dawn on Wednesday, March 1 to travel to the state capital and tell their elected officials, in person, to continue supporting Queens Library.
Dressed in their special t-shirts, our advocates spent the day walking the halls of the New York State Capitol building, stopping by the offices of 25 members of the Senate and Assembly to share their stories about Queens Library and its positive effect on their lives. They also joined library supporters from around the state, including the New York Public and Brooklyn Public libraries, for a passionate mid-day rally.
Queens Library’s Assistant Director of Government and Community Affairs, Camille Barrett, led a group that met with Assembly Member Ronald Kim and Senator Toby Ann Stavisky. “Assembly Member Kim expressed admiration for the work of the Flushing Adult Learner Center. He also talked about the many ways the library makes an impact on the community, and how he wants to get funds to do more,” Camille reported.
“Senator Stavisky, after greeting us and taking a few group photos, paused to go to her bag to show us her library card, which she uses most often at the Mitchell-Linden Community Library. Upon learning that our group was made up of both Flushing and Central Adult Learning Center students, she spoke of the Centers’ great programs and services. The group discussed the need for all our libraries to be accessible to seniors and people with disabilities and their desire for more libraries to look like Elmhurst Community Library.”
We thank our advocates for their time and enthusiasm, and for traveling with us on Library Day. We also thank all the representatives who took the time to meet with us and show support for our libraries: Assembly Members Jeffrion Aubry, Brian Barnwell, Edward Braunstein, Vivian Cook, Michael DenDekker, Andrew Hevesi, Alicia Hyndman, Ronald Kim, Michael Miller, Francisco Moya, Catherine Nolan, Stacey Pheffer Amato, Nily Rozic, Michael Simanowitz, Aravella Simotas, Michele Titus, Clyde Vanel, and David Weprin; and Senators Joseph Addabbo Jr., Tony Avella, Leroy Comrie, Michael Gianaris, Jose Peralta, James Sanders Jr., and Toby Ann Stavisky.
Contact your state representative to tell them how much the library means to you! Click on their name above to get their contact information.
Advocacy season is just starting, and if you couldn’t make the trip upstate, our first library rally at City Hall will take place on Wednesday, March 8.
Queens Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott will testify with his counterparts from the Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library before the New York City Council, talk about the increasing demand for library services, and ask City Council members to continue their support of New York City’s libraries as they set their budgets for the next fiscal year. Join us on the steps of City Hall and tell your legislators to continue investing in libraries!
It was a wonderful and fortunate day at Elmhurst Community Library on Saturday, February 18 as Queens Library held an all-day Lunar New Year Festival.
All three floors of our newest library hosted special events, and over 4,000 guests joined us throughout the day, easily the most people who have attended a Queens Library event this year. Our guests came to Elmhurst from all over Queens, and even as far away as Long Island and Staten Island!
We started the Year of the Rooster celebration with a traditional ceremonial lion dance, followed by painting, calligraphy, and crafts for the kids in attendance. They also received lucky red envelopes for the New Year!
Next were free Chinese delicacies for our guests like dumplings, spring rolls, and pan fried noodles, followed by a Fashion/Music/Dance show featuring Fresh Meadows’s own Ba Ban Chinese Music Society, along with a volunteer community dance group from the Elmhurst area and local musician Qinni Lee playing the pipa.
The day was capped off by a raffle with prizes donated by local community organizations, including a rice cooker, toasters, a spice rack, and golden rooster key chains
“Everyone enjoyed the whole event tremendously,” said Community Library Manager Yasha Hu. “We’re so excited that so many people came to visit Elmhurst, and they’re already looking forward to next year's Lunar New Year Festival.”
Photos: Qinni Lee played the pipa for our Lunar New Year guests, while some of our youngest festivalgoers showed us their artistic skills.
The Allegro Singers
Opera fans, rejoice! Broken Heart Week wouldn’t be complete without an operatic performance celebrating love and tragedy. This Saturday, join us at Forest Hills Library for our feature presentation The Allegro Singers Present Tragic Love Stories in Opera.
The Allegro Singers, founded by Music Director and pianist Inna Leytush 20 years ago, are a group of highly trained vocalists ranging from soprano to baritone. The concert will feature beloved arias and duets from Il Trovatore by Verdi, Carmen by Bizet, Romeo et Juliette by Gounod, and other popular music selections.
The featured artists are soprano Liora Michelle, tenor Hamid Rodriguez, and baritone Ricardo Rosa. Liora Michelle got her start performing in Australia as a principal soprano for the Melbourne City Opera, and has portrayed over 25 heroines in classic works, including Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Nedda in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, and Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello. Hamid Rodriguez began studying music at the Interamerican University of San Germán, Puerto Rico. Rodriguez has taken on the roles of Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, and The Sailor in Dido and Aeneas. Ricardo Rosa has appeared as David in Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, Peter in Hansel und Gretel by Humperdick, and David in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz.
The Sonia Olla Flamenco Dance Company
The Andalusian art of flamenco is known for being fiery and full of passion. Percussive heel-and-toe, brightly colored costumes, and the accompaniments of enthusiastic singing and Spanish guitar all blend together to create this incredible high-energy art form. So what better time than during Broken Heart Week to titillate your senses with one of the most widely-known and well-loved flamenco groups of all time?
The Company will present Tablao Sevilla, a routine which seeks to recreate the "tablaos" café setting found in the traditional flamenco clubs of Spain.
Sonia Olla was born and raised in Barcelona when she earned a degree in Spanish Dance and Flamenco at the the Instituto de Teatro y Danza in Barcelona. She’s been hailed by The New York Times as “a furnace of earthy sensuality” and she and partner Ismael Fernandez were even invited to choreograph Madonna’s worldwide “Rebel Heart” tour in 2015.
Olla’s on and off-stage partner, Ismael Fernández, is an award-winning cante flamenco artist, musical director, and dance teacher. In 2004, he won the National Contest of Cordoba, where he sang for the famed dancer Soraya Clavijo. Throughout his career, Ismael has worked with flamenco legends Antonio Canales, Farruquito, Marina Heredia, and El Torombo.
Join us for these exciting final performances of Broken Heart Week!
The Allegro Singers
Saturday, February 18
3pm
Forest Hills
Sonia Olla Flamenco Dance Company
Saturday, February 18
3pm
Langston Hughes
Article by Gabrielle Hew.
So what, exactly, is Broken Heart Week?
Broken Heart Week (February 12–18) is a time to celebrate loves won and lost. Sure, February 14 is Valentine’s Day, but at Queens Library, every facet of love and heartbreak will be explored in this week-long program.
Several of our community libraries will host book discussions, movie screenings, theatre, opera, comedy, health seminars, concerts, poetry readings, oral histories, and even DIY arts and crafts that explore the universal human experience of love and loss.
Plus, as a special part of Broken Heart Week, you can enter our Short, But Not-So-Sweet T-Shirt Sweepstakes! Share your Broken Heart story (200 words or less) with us and you’ll be automatically entered to win a FREE, limited edition Broken Heart Week t-shirt. (If writing’s not your thing, be sure to come to select Broken Heart Week programs for a chance to get a free shirt.)
Be sure to visit the Broken Heart Week webpage to reserve your free seats for our featured events, enter the Short, But Not-So-Sweet Sweepstakes, and download the entire schedule for Broken Heart Week.
Broken Heart Week is a reminder that even the gloomiest experiences can be learning curves, times for reflection, and a chance to fight for your happiness.
Romance gets all the attention on Valentine’s Day, but what about the opposite? This February, Queens Library dedicates seven days to the many facets of heartbreak—and the silver linings that follow.
Broken Heart Week is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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Broken Heart Week is headlined by four special featured events—be sure to reserve your free seats now before they’re gone!
The Moth: LOVESICK
SOLD OUT—Seats are No Longer Available for this event, but we will be forming a standby line in case of no-shows.
This two-part event brought to you by The Moth will feature a spoken-word program and a storytelling workshop. Come prepared with a five-minute story about the heart wanting what the heart wants. Talk about starstruck lovers, crossed wires, yearning, dreaming, and scheming to find Mrs. Right or Mr. Right-now. Explore dating, marriage, and “It's Complicated.” Tell the stories of hearts that ache, break, or burst with joy!
Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 p.m.
Flushing Community Library
41-17 Main Street
718-661-1200
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Roxanne Shanté Presents: Hip Hop—The Pain is Real
Hip Hop legend Roxanne Shanté talks about her own heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and music, and will invite the audience to express their own heartbreak stories and rhymes.
Monday, February 13 at 6:00 p.m.
Queens Central Library
89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica
718-990-0778
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Frida Kahlo—A Broken/Feisty Heart
Frida Kahlo’s most famous artworks, her passionate love letters to her partner Diego Rivera, and a live performance of mariachi music will bring the feisty artist to life in a celebration of her uncompromised spirit in art and love.
Wednesday, February 15 at 3:00 p.m.
Jackson Heights Community Library
35-51 81 Street
718-899-2500
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Lauren Elder Presents: Broadway Standards—Heartbreak at the Great White Way
Broadway performer Lauren Elder will present a comprehensive list of beloved and lesser-known Broadway standards about love and loss.
Saturday, February 18 at 2:30 p.m.
Queens Central Library
89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica
718-990-0778
Tags
In honor of African-American History Month, we're paying tribute to a special selection of notable African-American writers.
Check this blog post every week in February for updates!
February 3: Langston Hughes
February 7: Naomi Jackson
February 10: Darryl "DMC" McDaniels
February 14: Phillis Wheatley
February 17: Colson Whitehead
February 21: Lorraine Hansberry
February 24: MK Asante
February 28: James Baldwin
Langston Hughes was a poet, novelist, and political activist, best known as a primary contributor to, and leader of, the Harlem Renaissance—an explosion of influential African-American art, music, and culture in New York City from about 1918 to the mid-1930s. His signature poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” was written when he was seventeen years old and published in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s official magazine, The Crisis, in 1921. It was included in his first poetry collection, The Weary Blues, in 1926.
Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, and raised by his grandmother until the age of thirteen. His father had fled racism in America by going to Cuba and Mexico, and his mother had traveled seeking work. While still in elementary school, he was elected Class Poet. He was later reunited with his mother and stepfather and attended high school in Cleveland, Ohio. While he did maintain a relationship with his father, it was always strained, partially due to his aspirations of being a writer. Working a number of odd jobs, he would eventually travel abroad as a ship’s crewman. He spent time in England with the black expatriate community that had surged there after World War I. After returning to the States, he made the acquaintance of poet Vachel Lindsay, and later was classmates with Thurgood Marshall at Lincoln University, a historically black university in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Hughes earned his B.A. in 1929. He was extremely political, which was evident in his prolific writing. He protested against Jim Crow segregation laws and traveled the world in creative endeavors with radical left activists. Hughes was accused of Communism by the members of the political right, and eventually, with much criticism from his fanbase, distanced himself from politics in his writing as well as his public life. Though never confirmed while he was alive, a number of Hughes’s works have been interpreted as odes to male love interests. He has remained an inspirational figure in black and LGBTQ communities alike.
Langston Hughes published 15 collections of poetry during his career, including Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951), a suite of poems meant to be read as a single work. He also published 11 books of fiction, seven books of non-fiction, 12 major plays—including Mule Bone (1931) with Zora Neale Hurston—and eight children’s books. He earned a number of accolades in his life, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935, the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in 1960, and honorary doctorates from Howard University and Western Reserve University. Following his death, many memorials have been named in his honor: the first Langston Hughes Medal was awarded by the City College of New York in 1978; the Langston Hughes Middle School opened in Reston, Virginia, in 1979; Langston Hughes High School opened in Fairburn, Georgia in 2009; and his home on East 127th Street in Harlem received landmark status from the City of New York in 1981. We, of course, can’t leave out the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center in Corona, Queens, which opened in 1969, and gained full status in the Queens Library system in 1987. Image credit: Langston Hughes photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936.
Naomi Jackson is a New York-based author whose debut novel, The Star Side of Bird Hill, has launched her into literary stardom. Since its release in 2015, this poetic prose about two young girls who are forced to relocate from Brooklyn to Barbados was named an Honor Book for Fiction by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. The Star Side of Bird Hill was also selected for the Gracie Book Club, the project launched by First Lady of New York Chirlane McCray in 2016.
Jackson was born and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn by her West Indian parents. She attended Williams College in Massachusetts for her undergraduate degree and then studied fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2011. She attended the University of Cape Town on a Fulbright Scholarship and received an M.A. in Creative Writing. She was the 2013-2014 resident at The Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania, and also had residencies at Hedgebrook in Washington and the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France. She also, of course, spent considerable time traveling in the Caribbean and connecting with her familial roots there. Jackson has taught writing at her alma mater, the University of Iowa, as well as Oberlin College, the University of Pennsylvania, and the City College of New York. She is currently the Visiting Writer at Amherst College.
Before The Star Side of Bird Hill, Jackson was published in many literary journals, popular magazines, and websites, including Word Without Borders, Buzzfeed, Bloom Literary Journal, espnW.com, and Elle Magazine, just to name a few. She continues to publish essays and short stories, has been reviewed by the likes of The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR, and was named a “Writer to Watch” in Fall 2015 by Publishers Weekly. We certainly will be watching as her career continues to flourish! Image credit: Photo of Naomi Jackson by Lola Flash, courtesy of naomi-jackson.com.
Darryl "DMC" McDaniels helped change the way the mainstream saw hip hop by the time Run-DMC hit number six on the Billboard 200 with their third album Raising Hell in 1986. McDaniels co-wrote the lyrics on much of the album, most notably the two original singles “My Adidas” and “It’s Tricky.” The break-out hit, however, was a cover with a twist—a rap-rock version of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” with guest performances by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. The album was number one on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop charts and marked the beginning of hip hop’s evolution into popular music. The album continues to influence artists of every genre, and is considered by Time, Rolling Stone, and Slant Magazine to be one of the greatest albums of all time.
Darryl Matthews McDaniels was born on May 31, 1964 in Harlem, New York, but was surrendered to the New York Foundling home by his mother. He was eventually adopted, and raised in Hollis, Queens. At the age of 14, he began teaching himself how to DJ on equipment given to him by his older brother. He soon teamed up with friends Joseph "Run" Simmons and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell. McDaniels was encouraged to rap, rather than DJ. He used the moniker DMcD—how he signed his work in school—shortened later to just “DMC.” In 1984, Run-DMC released their self-titled debut to much positive feedback from the music community. DMC had already been abusing alcohol for some time by this point, using it to overcome stage fright since age 15.
By the release of Raising Hell, creative differences had emerged within the group, and tensions grew. In 1991, he was hospitalized with acute pancreatitis and made the decision to quit drinking cold turkey, though he would experience backslide. He met his wife Zuri Alston in 1992, and they had their son Darryl “D’Son” McDaniels, Jr. in 1994. In the late '90s, DMC suffered from spasmodic dysphonia, a condition that robbed him of his iconic rap voice. It was during this same time that he first learned of his adoption. This was the tail end of a depression spiral that had included suicidal thoughts for well over a decade. He credits an unexpected source for finding hope—the music of Sarah McLachlan. In 2004, he completed inpatient treatment for alcoholism and has been sober ever since.
DMC released a solo album, Checks Thugs and Rock n Roll, in 2006. In 2014, he founded his own independent comic book imprint, Darryl Makes Comics. The first book he released was DMC, featuring a superhero designed after himself who thwarts heroes, as well as villains, who have let their powers get out of control. His memoir Ten Ways Not to Commit Suicide was published in 2016 by Harper Collins. We were honored when DMC visited Queens Library in December 2015 and spoke with our Hip Hop Coordinator Ralph McDaniels about his life, his career, and the past and future of hip hop culture. Image credit: Photo of DMC by MFidel Photography, part of the February 2017 “Queens Hip Hop Pioneers” photo exhibit at Central Library in Jamaica.
Phillis Wheatley was the first published African-American female poet, with an extraordinary gift for languages and great capacity for learning. Poems On Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was the one collected volume of her work published in her lifetime, when she was 20 years old. The book’s publishing was paid for, in part, by patrons of English nobility and the Wheatley family, by whom she had been purchased as a slave.
Her birthdate is presumed to be in 1753 in West Africa, but exact information is sparse. She was kidnapped and sold at the age of seven or eight and brought to Massachusetts on a ship called The Phillis, which is where she got her first name. A wealthy Boston merchant by the name of John Wheatley purchased her as a slave for his wife, Susana. The family was considered somewhat progressive in their time, and young Phillis received an unprecedented education, not only for a slave, but for any girl. By age 12 she could read in English, Greek, and Latin, and by age 13 was writing poetry. The family enjoyed showing off her skills, and rather than have her do physical chores, escorted her on audiences with the likes of Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, whose patronage helped in publishing her first volume of poems in London. This was after failing to publish the volume in America, and having to prove the work was hers in court. The general perception at the time was that Africans could not write, let alone write poetry.
Phillis Wheatley would also later meet George Washington after writing an ode to him, which was later republished in the Pennsylvania Gazette by Thomas Paine. She also kept correspondence with Reverend Samson Occom and the British philanthropist John Thornton. As per John Wheatley’s will, Phillis was freed upon his death in 1778. She had lost her patronage after gaining her freedom. She married a freedman named John Peters, but the two had many financial and emotional struggles. They lived in poverty and suffered through the death of two infants, and her husband was eventually incarcerated in debtors’ prison. Phillis wrote a second volume of poetry, but was unable to have it published as a book, though selected poems would be run in magazines and pamphlets. In 1838, the third edition of Margaretta Matilda Odell's Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, A Native African and a Slave collected Wheatley's poems along with those of enslaved North Carolina poet George Moses Horton, who was the first African-American poet to be published in the southern United States.
Phillis Wheatley’s work is widely considered essential in black literature. Her first published volume made her the most famous black woman in the world; French philosopher Voltaire was said to be a fan. While recognized for her skill during her life, her subtle subversion and the allusions and double meanings of her works have been studied and analyzed long after her death. Robert Morris University named the new building for their School of Communications and Information Sciences after her in 2012, and Wheatley Hall at UMass Boston is named for her as well. She is featured both in the Boston Women's Memorial and on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail. In 2002, professor and scholar Molefi Kete Asante named Phillis Wheatley one of the 100 Greatest African Americans.
Colson Whitehead is a New York-based author whose most acclaimed book to date is his sixth novel, The Underground Railroad, published in 2016. The story follows two slaves in their bid for freedom—only the Underground Railroad in this world is quite literal. A subway system takes them on a journey through time and shows them the beginnings of bondage, to the struggles of the modern day. This unique novel was given a National Book Award for Fiction, and hit the height of popularity when it was selected for Oprah’s Book Club in August 2016. It was also part of President Barack Obama’s personal summer reading list. In January 2017, the American Library Association awarded The Underground Railroad the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. It was also a New York Times bestseller and was selected as one of their Ten Best Books of 2016.
Whitehead was born on November 6, 1969 in Brooklyn, and grew up in Manhattan. He attended Harvard University, though he was not accepted into their creative writing program during his education. Very soon after his graduation in 1991, he began writing for The Village Voice as an editorial assistant and a TV, book, and music critic. He started writing his first novels during this time. In 2002, he was granted a MacArthur Fellowship, which is colloquially known as “The Genius Grant.” Whitehead has also written for The New York Times, Salon, Vibe, Spin, and Newsday. He’s taught at top schools in and around New York City: New York University, Columbia University, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, and Princeton University. He has also taught at the University of Houston and Wesleyan University, and had writing residencies at Vassar College, the University of Richmond, and the University of Wyoming.
Whitehead has to date written eight books—six novels, a collection of essays about New York City (The Colossus of New York, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), and a memoir about participating in the 2011 World Series of Poker (The Noble Hustle). His first novel, The Intuitionist (1999), was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and won the Quality Paperback Book Club’s New Voices Award. John Henry Days (2001) received the Young Lions Fiction Award and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Apex Hides the Hurt (2006) won the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and Sag Harbor (2009) was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Whitehead is a 2000 Whiting Award winner and has also received the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers Fellowship (2007), the Dos Passos Prize (2012), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2013). Image credit: Colson Whitehead at the 2009 Texas Book Festival in Austin, via Wikimedia, copyright Larry D. Moore.
Lorraine Hansberry was the first black woman to write a play performed on Broadway. Her most famous work is A Raisin in the Sun, the name of which is a reference to the Langston Hughes poem “Harlem (A Dream Deferred).” The play, which debuted in 1959, chronicles an African-American family living in a run-down home in the south side of Chicago that attempts to improve their lives after receiving a substantial life insurance payout after a relative's death. The play deals with racial injustice, integration, poverty and economic mobility, ethnic pride, and the pursuit of the American dream. Much of the play echoes real-life events surrounding Hansberry v. Lee (1940), a Fair Housing Act lawsuit involving Hansberry’s family.
The play’s predominantly black cast made it a difficult sell for funding at the time, but it opened to very positive reviews and continues to be considered a pivotal production in American theater. The original cast starred Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil, who were nominated as Best Actor and Actress at the Tony Awards in 1960. The production was also nominated for Best Play and Best Direction. A Raisin in the Sun saw two Broadway revivals: one in 2004, starring Sean Combs, Audra McDonald, and Phylicia Rashad (who also reprised their roles for a 2008 TV movie); and one in 2014, starring Denzel Washington and Sophie Okonedo, that won three Tony Awards. It was also a West End production in 1959, and was performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in 2010. An acclaimed film version was made in 1961, for which Hansberry wrote the screenplay, starring the original Broadway cast. A musical version of the play, Raisin, ran for two years on Broadway beginning in 1973 (with its book written by Hansberry’s ex-husband) and won the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19, 1930, the youngest of four children. Her family achieved a certain kind of fame after buying a home in a mostly white neighborhood, which collectively made legal attempts to force them out in the case Hansberry vs. Lee. The case made its way to the Supreme Court. The Hansberrys were a well-respected family and were friendly with renowned intellectuals such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson. Hansberry graduated from Englewood High School in 1948. She attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she was incredibly politically active, and briefly studied painting at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico in 1949. In 1951 she moved to Harlem, studied writing at the New School, and continued her activism work, focusing primarily on underprivileged families fighting evictions. That same year, she joined the staff at the Freedom newspaper, where she continued professional relationships with Robeson (founder of the newspaper) and Du Bois. Most of her work focused on American civil rights struggles and global anti-colonialism. In 1953, she married Robert Nemiroff, a prominent publisher and songwriter, though it is believed that Hansberry was a closeted lesbian. Nemiroff’s success allowed Hansberry to write full-time. The two did separate in 1957, and divorced in 1964, but continued to work together throughout the rest of Hansberry’s life. A lifelong smoker, Hansberry died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 34. Paul Robeson was one of the eulogizers at her funeral, and messages from James Baldwin and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. were also recited.
Only one more of Hansberry’s plays was performed onstage during her lifetime. The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window premiered on Broadway in 1964, but was met with mixed reviews, and closed nearly three months after its opening. Hansberry considered Les Blancs to be her most important play. It was finished by Nemiroff after her death and debuted on Broadway in 1970, to heavy criticism. Les Blancs and two of Hansberry’s other plays were compiled in a book edited by Nemiroff and first published in 1972. Her autobiography, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, was also completed posthumously, and published in 1969. Nina Simone released a song in tribute to Hansberry under the same title that same year. Two elementary schools in New York City are named for Hansberry, in the Bronx and in St. Albans, Queens. Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University has a first-year female dorm named after her, and she has also been honored in San Francisco with the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. In 1999, she was added to the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, and to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2013. Image credit: Fair Use, via Wikimedia.
MK Asante is an author, hip hop artist, filmmaker, and professor. He reached notoriety with his memoir Buck (2013), the story of his life as a teenager on the tough streets of his Philadelphia neighborhood, as his family fell apart. Readers were inspired by his story of self-discovery through self-education, as he found his voice through writing at the age of sixteen. The book had immediate positive critical reception, with stellar reviews from NPR, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Book Review, and even poet Maya Angelou, who called the book “a story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style.” Buck was selected for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers list and was an LA Times Summer pick. It won numerous awards, including Best New Book of 2013 from Baltimore Magazine, and the 2014 In the Margins Book Award.
Molefi Kete Asante, Jr. was born in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1982. His parents are American—his father is African-American scholar Molefi Kete Asante, and his mother is choreographer and professor Kariamu Welsh. He and his older brother were raised in north Philadelphia. Asante had a difficult time growing up in a neighborhood in decay—his older brother was arrested, his father was often absent, and his mother in poor health. He struggled with drugs and gang affiliation. Due largely to all the turmoil in his life, he had problems in school. He eventually enrolled in an alternative high school where he discovered his love of writing. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree at Lafayette College, and his MFA from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.
Asante published three books before the release of his memoir: two collections of poetry, Like Water Running Off My Back (2002) and Beautiful. And Ugly Too (2005), as well as a non-fiction book, It's Bigger Than Hip Hop (2008), about musical subculture and politics. After Buck’s critical reception, Asante received a Sundance Institute Feature Film Program grant to adapt it into a movie, which is currently in development. He wrote and produced the independent documentary 500 Years Later (2005), which won Best Film at the 2005 Berlin Black Film Festival and the 2007 UNESCO/Zanzibar International Film Festival "Breaking the Chains" Award. He also directed the documentary The Black Candle (2008), which was written and narrated by Maya Angelou. His debut album is a hip hop companion to his memoir called Buck: The Original Book Soundtrack (2015). Asante has given lectures and performances in over 25 countries and at many prestigious institutions, including Yale University, Vassar College, Harvard University, and the British Library. He is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Film at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, having received tenure at twenty-six.
The youngest person on our list, we will surely have much more to read and hear from him in the future! Image credit: Throwacoup via Wikipedia Commons.
James Baldwin was an essayist, novelist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His most famous work, amongst many, is Go Tell It On the Mountain, a semi-autobiographical novel originally published in 1953. The story follows a young man growing up in Harlem with an abusive, fanatically religious stepfather. There are also subtle references to homosexuality, as well as feeling out of step with the rest of society. The book mirrors much of Baldwin’s own struggles and conflicts within his religious and familial life. Though controversial at the time of its release, the book has been long considered a classic. Time Magazine named it one of the 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005. In 1984, Go Tell It On the Mountain was adapted into a TV movie for ABC, in an attempt to recreate the success of 1977’s Roots.
James Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York. He grew up poor with his mother and siblings, who had left Baldwin's biological father due to his drug abuse. His stepfather was a preacher and, as Baldwin’s work would suggest, was very strict with the children to say the least. While still a child, Baldwin experienced racially-based harassment from police in his neighborhood. He attended elementary school at P.S. 24, where he wrote the school song. He went to middle school at Frederick Douglass Junior High, where he was influenced by Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen and was encouraged to serve as editor of the school newspaper. Baldwin graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School, where he was the literary editor of the school magazine, but suffered through regular verbal abuse from other students based on his race. He began to have a complicated relationship with religion around the age of 17, due to poor treatment from his stepfather, and his realization of his sexuality. He saw religion as a mirror of black oppression, a theme that would appear many times in his work.
As a young man, Baldwin spent much time in Greenwich Village, and developed long-lasting friendships with painter Beauford Delaney and actor Marlon Brando. By age 24, he had become disillusioned with American racism. He became an expatriate in France, where he would eventually spend most of the latter part of his life. However, Baldwin returned to the U.S. in the summer of 1957. He wrote a number of published essays on the black Civil Rights Movement, toured across America lecturing on activism and socialism, and by 1963 was considered one of the movement’s most prominent spokesmen. He worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr., and was friends with Langston Hughes, Nina Simone, and Lorraine Hansberry. He and Hansberry, along with Kenneth Clark and Lena Horne, were invited to speak with Robert F. Kennedy to lobby for more civil rights legislation. Baldwin eventually grew distant from the movement; one of the reasons was an outward hostility towards members of the LGBTQ community.
James Baldwin published nearly 20 books over the course of his career. Among the most prominent are Giovanni’s Room (1956), an influential work for its direct narrative on male homosexuality and bisexuality, and Notes of a Native Son (1955), his first collection of essays that were previously published in such magazines as Harper’s, Partisan Review, and The New Leader. He collaborated on other projects, such as A Rap on Race, a transcript of conversations between him and anthropologist Margaret Mead. At the time of his death in 1987, Baldwin was still working on the manuscript for Remember This House, a memoir of his role in the civil rights movement. This manuscript was the inspiration and basis for Raoul Peck's 2016 Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro. Baldwin’s later works have recently seen a resurgence in the zeitgeist for their focus on LGBTQ issues, and overall his writngs have remained a popular part of American literature. The Library of America published a two-volume collection of his works edited by Toni Morrison in 1998, Early Novels & Stories and Collected Essays. The National James Baldwin Literary Society, honoring his legacy, was founded in 1985; a 2005 United States Postal Service stamp bore his likeness; and, on what would’ve been his 90th birthday, the street where he was born (128th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues) was named “James Baldwin Place.” Image credit: Portrait of James Baldwin by Lyle Suter, at the Langston Hughes Community Library.
In honor of African-American History Month, Queens Library’s Culture Connection will host four special events at Central Library in Jamaica showcasing the diverse role of music in the African-American experience.
As part of this series, we’re pleased to welcome Joe Okonkwo to Central on Saturday, February 4 for a discussion of his debut novel, Jazz Moon, which The Danish Girl author David Ebershoff calls "a passionate, alive, and original novel about love, race, and jazz in 1920s Harlem and Paris—a moving story of traveling far to find oneself." Joe has also selected songs from the Harlem Renaissance that award-winning pianist Hila Kulik will bring to life during the program, and guest vocalist Candice Hoyes will perform jazz standards from the era as well.
Joe Okonkwo is a Pushcart Prize nominee who has had stories published in a variety of print and online venues, including Promethean, Penumbra Literary Magazine, Chelsea Station, Shotgun Honey, and Best Gay Stories 2015. In addition to his writing career, he is the Prose Editor for the Queens journal Newtown Literary and Editor of Best Gay Stories 2017. Joe has worked in theater as an actor, stage manager, director, playwright, and youth theater instructor. He earned a BA in Theater from the University of Houston, and an MFA in Creative Writing from City College of New York. He is also a proud resident of Queens.
Joe was kind enough to answer some questions for us before his upcoming author event.
What role have libraries played in your life?
Two of my significant early life experiences happened in libraries. The first was discovering D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths in the sixth grade. I was fascinated by the stories, really loved them. But my classmates told me the book was stupid and that I was stupid for reading it. That was the first time that I realized that people are often frightened of anything outside the realm of their own experience or comfort zone. The second was finding James Baldwin's Another Country in my high school library. I had heard about it and knew it dealt with gay relationships and interracial relationships and was excited to find it in my strict, all-boys, Jesuit high school library. It was the first gay book I ever read. I wasn't "out" yet. This was the eighties—before Will and Grace, before the words "marriage" and "equality" were used in the same sentence. The characters became my friends for the duration of the read and I was depressed when I finished the book.
Why did you choose 1920s Harlem and Paris, and the Harlem Renaissance, as the setting for your debut novel?
If I could go back in time to any era, it would be the Harlem Renaissance. Such a rich period culturally, artistically, politically. It was the first time that people realized that black was beautiful—and marketable. Blacks made strides in music, theater, the visual arts, literature. The political activism of the Harlem Renaissance laid the groundwork for the modern Civil Rights Movement of the fifties and sixties. But I'm careful not to romanticize the era. It was also a time of extreme difficulty for blacks because of poverty, Jim Crow, lynchings, and pervasive racial discrimination. Still, it was a time of great progress and the Harlem Renaissance gave us cultural riches like the poetry of Langston Hughes, the earthy blues of Bessie Smith, and the vibrant paintings of Archibald Motley and Lois Mailou Jones.
What can our customers expect at your author event on February 4? How did you choose Hila Kulik and Candice Hoyes to join you for this program?
Expect an afternoon of good literature that (hopefully) transports you back to a great historical era, insightful discussion about the Harlem Renaissance, and a sampling of the fantastic music of that period! Hila and Candice were suggested to me and I'm excited and grateful they agreed to join this event.
You’ve selected songs from the Harlem Renaissance to accompany your author event, and even included a Jazz Moon playlist on your website. What are your thoughts on the role of music in the African-American experience, and in the lives of queer people as well?
That's a huge question that I don't think I can totally answer here. But I guess that any culture—and particularly any culture that faces extreme bigotry—uses art as expression and escape. And the more challenging the bigotry and its effects, the deeper those artists go in order to create those vehicles for expression and escape.
You’re the Prose Editor for Newtown Literary, a journal featuring work by Queens-based writers. Can you talk more about the Newtown Literary Alliance and how it supports the literary arts in Queens?
We only publish writers who live in Queens or have a very strong Queens connection. So often Manhattan gets all the credit for everything, and the "outer boroughs" get short shrift. Newtown Literary aims to regain some balance. We publish poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. We're not overly concerned about genre—we just want to see good writing. We're also active in the community. We host a weekend-long event called Queens Writes. It's held at various locations around the borough where participants are inspired to come and write for a few hours in a community setting. We also host a series of free creative writing classes at Queens Library for people of all writing levels. I'll be teaching one in May.
What other books in addition to Jazz Moon would you recommend to people who want to learn more about the Harlem Renaissance?
When Harlem Was in Vogue by David Levering Lewis is a fantastic book. It’s basically a comprehensive history of the Harlem Renaissance, with lots of info on the major players: W.E.B. DuBois, Charles Spurgeon Johnson, Jessie Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke. Also The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African American Culture 1920-1930 by Steven Watson, which gives a lot of props to the gay elements of the movement. And biographies of Harlem Renaissance movers and shakers are informative and enjoyable: I've read bios of Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Langston Hughes, Adelaide Hall, and Josephine Baker.
What are some of your favorite books and who are your favorite authors?
Favorite books: Frankenstein, Another Country, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Weary Blues, which was Langston Hughes' first poetry collection. I recently read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and it's like nothing I've ever encountered before. It may take a few years to fully absorb it. I'm currently reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Her sharp style and sparkling dialogue are blowing me away. And I adore almost everything by Toni Morrison.
The latest chapter of a magical series; a psychological thriller; a Pulitzer Prize winner; a dystopian classic; and the newest books from literary icons—these were some of the most popular reads at Queens Library in 2016.
Our customers checked out nearly 13 million items this past year, and these twenty selections were their definite favorites.*
Happy New Year from everyone at Queens Library—and we can’t wait to see what you read in 2017!
* Well, the favorite titles for our adult customers. Queens Library’s most-circulated book in 2016 was, in fact, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney—a wonderful book, but maybe not for everybody!
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany
- The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
- The Last Mile, David Baldacci
- 15th Affair, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
- As Time Goes By, Mary Higgins Clark
- Bullseye, James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
- The Games, James Patterson and Mark Sullivan
- NYPD Red 4, James Patterson and Marshall Karp
- All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
- Magic, Danielle Steel
- Private Paris, James Patterson and Mark Sullivan
- The Apartment, Danielle Steel
- Property of a Noblewoman, Danielle Steel
- Blue, Danielle Steel
- Fool Me Once, Harlan Coben
- Sting, Sandra Brown
- The Obsession, Nora Roberts
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
- The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah
- First Comes Love, Emily Giffin
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Congratulations to Queens Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott, the Queens Tribune’s 2016 Person of the Year!
In the Tribune’s special issue honoring Dennis Walcott, you can learn more about his background, his life in public service, and his plans for the future of Queens Library, as well as read testimonials from colleagues like Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, New York City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and others.
“In the spring when Dennis Walcott was announced as the new head of the Queens Library system, the editorial staff was astounded at the breadth of his career in public service. We joked then that in March, we already knew who our person of the year would be,” says the Tribune’s editorial about its selection. “Walcott has found his home once again within the borough of Queens, pouring all of the talents he has developed into creating a library system that will educate, stimulate, and care for the children, families, and residents of the world’s borough. His unwavering commitment to civic causes is an inspiration to us all.”
Read the PDF version of the Queens Tribune’s Person of the Year issue.
We’re proud to welcome pianist, composer, and author Sharp Radway back to Central Library for another Culture Connection concert!
This time, Sharp is bringing our patrons “Music Of The Streets,” a project that pays homage to iconic figures in the world of jazz. Sharp’s concert and presentation on Saturday, November 19 will focus on “The Queens Chapter” and introduce our guests to the rich jazz legacy of Queens.
Sharp Radway, who currently resides in Brooklyn, has worked with several jazz luminaries, including Yusef Lateef, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, James Spaulding, and many more. He appeared onscreen with Mos Def, Beyonce Knowles, Cedric the Entertainer, and several others in the film Cadillac Records and acted and performed in a production of the historic Off-Broadway play The Connection under the direction of Living Theatre co-founder Judith Malina, who also directed the first production of the play in 1959. Sharp serves as the music director, pianist, and arranger for The Celebration of Lionel Hampton Big Band and The New York City Ska Orchestra. Staying true to his roots, he continues to play in church regularly, serving as Music Director for a local church in Brooklyn.
Sharp was kind enough to talk with us before his upcoming concert.
This is your second visit to Queens Library, and we’re glad to have you back! What was your experience like playing here last time?
Thanks for having me back. I always appreciate the opportunity to share music, so I am grateful to be back! My last experience at the library was great; I performed a tribute to the music of Elmo Hope, Bud Powell, and Thelonious Monk. The attendees seemed to really enjoy and appreciate the music. They also gained a lot from the history that we shared with them about those three piano giants.
What role have libraries played in your life?
For me, libraries have been a source for knowledge, a place of study, a quiet refuge, and also the place where I had a lot of my early music listening experiences. As a young child, I used to go to the library to avail myself of a music collection much larger than the one I had at home. I listened to different artists from different genres on LPs, 45s, and cassettes at the library. I still have very fond memories of those moments, which will always be cherished.
In addition to being a performer, you are also a music teacher. Can you talk about that role and how important it is to you?
I've taught private piano instruction, theory, ear training, jazz ensemble classes, and more, to preschoolers, senior citizens, and everyone in between. Teaching is an essential thing for me. It keeps me fine-tuned and makes me a better student, which, in turn, puts me in a position to learn more and grow as an individual.
Can you talk more about your “Music of the Streets” project? What inspired it, and what can we expect from “The Queens Chapter?”
Absolutely. "Music of the Streets" is now in its second year. It's a project I put together that honors jazz icons from various cities and neighborhoods—namely Detroit; Philadelphia; Queens; Sugar Hill, in Harlem; Brooklyn; Wilmington, DE; Newark; and many more. Its mission is to call attention to legendary jazz artists from these areas and their compositions. The project also presents original compositions written in honor of these iconic figures. The Queens Chapter of the project features artists primarily from that borough and pays homage to musicians from Hollis, East Elmhurst, Jamaica, Corona, St. Albans, Bayside, Flushing, and Springfield Gardens. We'll be presenting their music set against the backdrop of a historical account of their lives, informed by their significance to the art form. I've also composed some music specifically for this Saturday's presentation that will serve as commemorative pieces for a couple of the artists we'll be discussing.
What are some of your favorite books and who are your favorite authors?
The Complete Life's Little Instruction Book by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer, The Speaker's Quote Book by Roy B. Zuck, The Story of Jazz by Marshall W. Stearns, The Destruction Of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams, The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Classon, and I am a lover of the Bible.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to be a professional musician?
My most humble but sincere advice would be to read a copy of my book Musicianship 101 (What They Don't Tell You In School) and put everything in there into action immediately.
Which performers and albums have inspired your career as a musician and composer?
Wow! I don't know how to answer that. I am inspired by most musicians—inspired to do by some, inspired in what not to do by others. Some pianists who both inspire and influence my playing are Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, Art Tatum, Ellis Larkins, Red Garland, and Ahmad Jamal. My greatest inspirations, however, are God and life itself.