The City Tech Literary Arts Festival

Staceyann Chin Poems on the Poetry Foundation

Below is a list of poems by Staceyann Chin available online on the website of the Poetry Foundation:

For You: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/155082/for-you-5fda4f6da99f2
In Those Years: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/155081/in-those-years This poem contains part of the text that makes up Chin’s dynamic stage performance, “If Only Out of Vanity” on Def Poetry: https://youtu.be/Cocm7Rz9cSk
Passing: (a poem that mentions mentions Jay Street and Borough Hall): https://youtu.be/Cocm7Rz9cSk
One Question: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/155080/one-question
September in New York: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/155077/september-in-new-york

LAF 2017

Thanks again to everyone who made LAF a huge success this year. It was such a wonderful evening.

And thanks to our amazing photographer, Michael Edwards. Here are just a few of the pictures he took.

Join us this Thursday (4/6) at 1pm in N1107 for our final team meeting before break. If you haven’t attended a meeting yet, that’s ok. If you already got a shirt, please bring it. Also, we’re going to have pizza, so comment on this post if you’ll be there so we know how much to get!

LAF Superstar Volunteers: Scenes from Yesterday’s Meeting

Scenes from yesterday’s meeting (and photo shoot)! Next meeting is April 6!

Rowan Ricardo Phillips’ The Ground

Heaven-Photo: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

In a discussion with poet Lawrence Joseph about his work on his debut book of poetry, The Ground, (FSG, 2012) Phillips discusses his work as a translator and a literary critic and how these affect his creative lens. He also discusses the importance of myth, story, and disturbances of the natural world in his work, stating: “There’s something monumental and terrifying about myth when it’s allowed to become again something more than a euphemism for fiction––as in “that’s just a myth”––and it creeps with conviction into your belief system.”

The Ground will be available in the City Tech bookstore.

Featured Speaker: Rowan Ricardo Phillips

Rowan Ricardo Phillips, photo: BlueFlower Arts

We are pleased to announce this year’s guest speaker, poet and essayist Rowan Ricardo Phillips. Phillips is author of two poetry collections published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux: Heaven (2015) and The Ground: Poems (2013). Phillips is the the recipient of a 2015 Guggenheim fellowship for poetry, the Whiting Writers’ Award, the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award and the GLCA New Writers Award for Poetry, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Heaven, an award that recognizes works that contribute to our understanding racism and cultural diversity.

Phillips’ poetry and writing has appeared in The New Republic, The New Yorker, Poetry, Granta, and The Paris Review. He is a contributing writer for Artforum Magazine and has written extensively online about soccer for The New Republic and The Paris Review, where he also contributes a column on basketball. In addition to his work in the field of poetry, Phillips writes literary criticism, art criticism, literary sports writing, and non-fiction. The author of the influential critical study of poetry When Blackness Rhymes with Blackness, Phillips is also the translator of Salvador Espriu’s story collection Ariadne in the Grotesque Labyrinth as well as numerous other works from Catalan, Spanish, and Italian.

Born in New York City in 1974 Phillips earned his BA at Swarthmore College and his PhD at Brown University. He has taught at Stony Brook, Princeton, Harvard, and Columbia. A Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU, he divides his time between New York City and Barcelona.

At Long Last, the LAF Opening Video!

Thanks again to Natalie and Afonso and all the amazing actors!

And the winners are……!

In case you missed last Thursday’s event, we are posting a list of winners here!

2016 WRITING COMPETITION AWARDS

Alan Kay Literary Criticism Award
1st Place (tie): Peggy Saint-Vil, “Analyzing Poems on Death/ Poetic Views on Death”
1st Place (tie): Emmanuela Michel, “Displaced Persons: Pariahs”
2nd Place: Natalie Gustavsson, “The Hidden Power of Goodness in
Muhammed Naseehu Ali’s story ‘Mallam Sile’”
3rd Place: Diogenes Mata, “Drown: Impacts of Physical Abuse”
Adolphus Lee Poetry Award
1st Place: Jane Shor, “The City”
2nd Place: Ariel Nolasco, “You”
3rd Place (tie): Afonso Henrique, “Damn You, Mother!”
3rd Place (tie): George Shengelia, “Night and I”
Charles Matusik Fiction Award
1st Place: Katherine Hernandez, “Chicken Basquaise for Two”
2nd Place: Daiane Bushey, “Bug Parties”
3rd Place: Jaroslav Sykora, “Cheechmoonda”
Graphic Text Award
1st Place: Jessica Glinski, “Yanki Complex”
2nd Place: Reem Flifel, “Don’t Ever Regret Your Actions! Believe In Yourself!”
3rd Place: Marvin Clarke, “The Voiceless Playground”
Judith Walter Personal Essay Award
1st Place: Aleksandra Majkut, “Monday”
2nd Place (tie): Diamond Ivey, “Mysterious Friendship”
2nd Place (tie): Christina Rodriquez, “More to Life”
3rd Place: Dayna Iphill, “The Love of a Mother”
Lou Rivers Drama Award
1st Place: Hallie Lederer, “AGARES”
2nd Place: Michellle Joseph, “Free Bird”
3rd Place (tie): Nicole Bellaflores-Mejia, “Freestyle Effect”
3rd Place (tie): Evens Belleville, “Hounds Tooth”
Laura Polla Scanlon Award for Best Essay on New York
1st Place: Irvin Gutierrez, “Luly Halal Food Truck”
2nd Place: Rowina Bryant, “I Found My Passion”
3rd Place: Alisa Pavlova, “Rhetorical Question”
Michele Forsten Advocacy Award
1st Place: Andreina Avalos, “Hatching From My Shell”
2nd Place (tie): Pamela Drake, “The Portrayal and Betrayal of Women”
2nd Place (tie): Cherishe Cumma, “Erotic vs. Erotica”
3rd Place: Thierno Diallo, “The Immigrants in Benzu”
Charles Hirsch Faculty and Staff Award
1st Place: Essay: Jessica Penner, “Absent”
1st Place: Fiction: Jane Mushabac, “Adult Children”
1st Place: Poetry: Lubos Stepanek, “Mystery Sestina”

LAF 2016 March 24: Main Event

We are getting very excited for our 35th annual Literary Arts Festival tomorrow night. Our volunteers have put together a great show with a surprise film, dancing by the City Tech Steppers, readings by students and contest winners, and the featured writer Mary Gaitskill.

Please come support us in 2016.

LAF 2016 in the Brooklyn Eagle

This year’s Literary Arts Festival with Mary Gaitskill gets showcased in the Brooklyn Eagle! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone there this Thursday…..
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/3/15/city-tech%E2%80%99s-annual-literary-arts-festival-feature-award-winning-author-mary