QUILL is a forum for Queens writers committed to developing and defining the creative field of translation, and offers audiences in Queens the opportunity not only to hear from authors working in their own neighborhood, but also perhaps in their own language. This year QUILL seeks to expand the concept of translation through a series of creative translation events, featuring artists from other disciplines in collaborative interpretations of literary works.

QUILL is funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on literary resources in Queens, as well a list of local publishers click here.

UPCOMING QUILL EVENTS

POESIA: Poe-SEE-ah, An Afternoon of Poetry and Visuals in Spanish and English

Saturday, February 11th from 4-6pm
Queens Museum of Art
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
7 train or LIRR to Mets/Willets Point

Featured author/translators Guillermo Filice Castro, Urayoan Noel and Elizabeth Torres will present works and images in a multidisciplinary reading focusing on the translation of the visual world to the written word.

Click here to Register

PAST QUILL EVENTS

BODY OF WORK: A Creative Translation Event

A multi-disciplinary conversation on the nature of translation, interpretation and the dynamic relationship between words and flesh
Tuesday, October 11th, 6:30-8:30pm
Green Space Studio, Long Island City

Featuring 2011-12 QUILL Artist Advisor Committee members Luis Francia, Pangiota Lilikaki and Richard Jeffrey Newman in collaboration with local choreographers Jocelyn Alter, Mariana Bekerman and Keomi Tarver. Refreshments provided in part by Lagunitas Brewing Company. Watch artists discuss their experience of the event below:

Cairo Connections: One City, Many Voices

Authors and translations from the Middle East reflect on Cairo.
Saturday, June 18th, 3-5pm
Jerusalem Nights Restaurant and Cafe

Featured artists Ahmed Eissawi, Alice C. Hunsberger and Joyce Zonana with MC and QUILL artist advisor Roger Sedarat will present classical and contemporary texts with Cairo as a historical and contemporary focal point. In addition to these amazing authors and translators, QCA announces the winner of the 2011 QUILL Translation Award! Audiences can also enter the QCA raffle to win a Barnes & Noble Nook Color Reader Tablet and peruse wares by local publishing houses Feminist Press and Fractious Press.

Rami Nuseir, Mohammed Soliman, Ahmed Eissawi, Alice Hunsberger, Joyce Zonana, Tamer, Roger Sedarat and Richard Kuzhami at the June 18th QUILL event.

Borderless Borough: Translation and Transformation in Queens

QUILL presents authors from South and South East Asia
Sat April 16th, 3-5pm
NOVO Restaurant

Featured poets and Jackson Heights locals Luis Francia, Vikas Menon and Rajiv Mohabir address the themes of translation and transformation through the lens of culture, geography and literature; moderated by QUILL artist advisor Richard Jeffrey Newman. In addition to hearing the work of these great poets, audiences can enter the QCA raffle to win a Barnes & Noble NOOK ColorT Reader’s Tablet and peruse local publishing houses 2nd Ave Poetry, Archipelago Books, Cy Gist Press and Red Door Magazine.

Love Queens Style

QUILL Poetry Fair & QAX Mixer
February 17, 6:30-8:30pm
Bread Box Cafe

Queens in Love with Literature (QUILL) and Queens Art Express (QAX) present a Poetry Fair & Mixer at the Breadbox Cafe in Long Island City, Thu, Feb 17, 6:30-8:30pm. Featuring love poems from other languages, Love Queens Style features members of the QUILL artist advisory committee including Queens Poet Laureate, Paolo Javier as MC; readings by Susan Bernofsky, Richard Jeffrey Newman, and Roger Sedarat; raffle prizes; and a night of mixing among local authors, publishers and the greater Queens art community.

Hear the WNYC piece on Queens in Love with Literature, featuring readings from the 2/17 event! Click here to listen!

Word Feast

The first of three dynamic QUILL events in 2010-2011, featured Queens Poet Laureate, Paolo Javier, writers Dorothea Lasky and David Mills.
Thu, Oct 28, 2010, 6:00 – 8:30 pm
Transilvania Café in Sunnyside

Word Feast was a celebration of language; featuring readings by the Queens Poet Laureate, Paolo Javier, writers Dorothea Lasky and David Mills; a talk-back session with the audience; and spirited Romanian music to round out the feast. Opening remarks were made by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. Word Feast marks the first of three dynamic Queens in Love with Literature (QUILL) events in 2010-2011 and is the debut event of the Queens Art Express (QAX) mixer series.

Letters to our Mothers

Saturday, June 12, 2010, 6pm
Jackson Diner, 37-47 74th St, Jackson Heights, NY

In Letters to our Mothers, five writers celebrate the multi-faceted voices of South Asian women in Queens and what it means to be heard across distance. This rare joint production curated by Adhikaar’s Executive Director Luna Ranjit, in collaboration with Queens Council on the Arts and The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, showcases readings by Asian American Literary Award and PEN/Amazon Award-winning fiction author Meera Nair and poets Arun Storrs and Amy T. Paul. Shardha and Megha Lama—theater members of Adhikaar’s Arts & Activism Program—will perform “I wish I could tell my Aama,” a theater piece incorporating dance and visual arts to tell bridge the difficult distances between mothers and daughters, asking “Aama did I ever tell you, I want to sing?”