The magic of the written word take center stage on Friday, February 11 as Poets & Passion kicks off its Winter/Spring 2011 series with an Open Mic session at the Downtown Brooklyn campus of St. Francis College. A project of the Brooklyn, NY based Caribbean Cultural Theatre, Poets & Passion, now in its fifth season, is a celebration of the work of Caribbean writers and the immigrant experience. This Valentine’s weekend program will be hosted by former national poetry slam champion and Nuyorican Poets Cafe alum, Everton Sylvester.
The Winter/Spring Series of Poets & Passion takes place at St. Francis College, 182 Remsen Street (between Clinton and Court Streets) on Friday, February 11 beginning at 7:30pm. The monthly theme-based program meets on the second Friday of the month and will feature novelists Nandi Keyi-Ogunlade (Trinidad & Tobago), Josaphat-Robert Large (Haiti), Rosalind McLymont (Guyana); Ibi Aanu Zoboi (Haiti); poets Keisha-Gaye Anderson (Jamaica), A. Naomi Jackson (U.S./Antigua), David Mills (US/Jamaica), Nicole Sealey (Virgin Islands), Mervyn Taylor (Trinidad & Tobago); and spoken word artist Euneek Kebreau (US/Haiti)
Jamaican, Everton Sylvester, teaches at the City University of New York and is the author of the collection of poems Backyard in Bed-Stuy. He is lead poet with bands Brooklyn Funk Essentials and Searching for Banjo. A James Michener fellow and a two-time Sundance Screenwriters fellow, whose screenplay Tambourine is a top-five finalist in the 2002 Urban World Film Festival. His work is widely published in such publications as United States of Poetry, Mississippi Review, Massachusetts Review, Brooklyn Review, Calaloo, Gathering of the Tribes, Mezcla and So Much Things to Say.
Initiated as a platform for Caribbean-American creative writers to present their work and network, Poets & Passion has evolved into a curious mix literary salon featuring celebrated poets and novelists, emerging New York area talents, spoken work artists, and lovers of the written word. Now in its fifth season, this sharing of creativity, experience and insight has seen such renowned talents as poets Kamau Braithwaite (Barbados), Merle Collins (Grenada) and Linton Kwesi Johnson (UK), novelists E.R. Braithwaite (Guyana), and social commentator Beverly Anderson-Manley (Jamaica).
The program is made possible in part with public resources from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and Material for the Arts, with additional support from Akashic Book Publishers, Jamaica Progressive League, Poets & Writers, Inc., St. Francis College – Office of Community Relations and Friends of Caribbean Cultural Theatre.
