May. 30, 2023 By Carlotta Mohamed
The Lewis Latimer House Museum in Flushing will host a free public reading event with eight writers from Queens who will share their stories through writing on the topics of race and immigration next month.
The event will take place at Lewis Latimer House Museum, located at 34-41 137th St., from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 3.
“An Afternoon of Memoir” is the culmination of a workshop series, “Memoir and Autobiographical Writing: Race & Immigration,” taught by Abeer Hoque, a Nigerian-born Bangladeshi American writer and photographer.
Tiffani Ren, one of this year’s writers, said that the most rewarding part of the program has been the community they have built together through the workshop.
“Everyone’s writing is treated with such tenderness, admiration, and intentionality, and my own writing has grown so much from reading the work of my peers,” Ren said.
Sunehra Subah expressed her appreciation for the sense of community the workshop has created and how it has helped her approach writing in a more healing way, adding that “Queens will always have my heart, and it has been wonderful to expand my sense of community through this workshop.”
Ana Reza, an immigrant writer, said the workshop helped her reach her goal of writing in a language other than her native language, learning that there are no barriers to creativity and imagination.
Soniya Munshi also expressed gratitude for the workshop, which gave her momentum and refreshed her commitment to completing her memoir.
“Through this workshop, I felt encouraged to continue to work on my memoir. The most rewarding aspect of this workshop was being in this community of Queens writers, including having the opportunity to read their beautifully layered stories about race and immigration as well as to receive their feedback on my work,” Munshi said. “This is the community that I want to receive feedback from.”
The Writing on Race & Immigration Series is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The Lewis LatimerHouse Museum is proud to host the series and looks forward to continuing to foster creativity and expression through future programs.