The Queens International Poetry Festival is a celebration of both the role of the poet in society and New York City's diversity. Past participants in the festival program include Huang Xiang who was imprisoned twelve years for his role as a poet of conscience during the Democracy Wall Movement in his native China. For its first two years, the festival was held in the beautiful auditorium of the Flushing Library, the United State's busiest library. The Third Queens International Poetry Festival was held at  LaGuardia Community College' Little Theatre in Long Island City, Queens, NYC on Saturday December 10 and attracted over 200 people. Besides poetry readings, the program included musical performances by world famous Gambian griot Papa Susso and Afro-Cuban drumming with David Gomez and Friends (performance sponsored in part by Latin Percussion). The program was free and open to the public.

All Photos, taken at The Third Queens International Poetry Festival copyright and courtesy of Gene Brown. Click here for more photos

Pramila Venkateswaran, author of Thirtha, a volume of poems published by Yuganta Press, has a doctorate from George Washington University and teaches English and women’s studies at Nassau Community College, New York.  A finalist for the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award in 1999 and a recipient of a Hedgebrook residency in 2002 and a Norcroft residency in August 2003, she has published in Paterson Literary Review, Ariel: A Review of International English Literature, Atlanta Review, Prairie Schooner, Xanadu, Long Island Quarterly, Calyx: Journal of Art and Literature by Women, California Quarterly, and Nassau Review, among several other print and electronic journals.  Recent anthologies, A Chorus for Peace, En(Compass) and Writing the Lines of Our Hands, include her voice among poets from around the world.   ___________________________________________________________ Mario Susko received his Ph.D. from SUNY Stony Brook in the 1970’s and has lived in the U.S. on and off the past thirty two years. A witness and survivor of the war in Bosnia, Mario Susko returned to the US from his native Croatia in 1993. A prolific poet and translator, he is the author of 23 poetry collections and numerous translations from modern American literature, perhaps most notably, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Mario Susko, a professor at Nassau Community College, has won several lierary awards, including the 1998 “Nuove Lettere” International Prize for Poetry and Literature (Naples, Italy), and the 2000 Tin Ujevic Award for the best poetry collection published in Croatia (for Versus Exsul). His fourth book in English, Eternity on Hold, was published in May, 2005 by Turtle Point Press ___________________________________________________________ Luis Francia is the author of the poetry collection Museum of Absences that was published last year. His semi-autobiographical critique of the Philippines, Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago, won both the 2002 PEN Center Open Book Award and the 2002 Asian American Writers Literary Award. He is the editor of Brown River, White Ocean: A Twentieth Century Anthology of Philippine Literature in English (1992), and Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and The Aftermath of an Imperial Dream 1899-1999 (2002). Luis Francia teaches at NYU and writes for both the Village Voice and The Sunday Inquirer Magazine in Manila. ___________________________________________________________ Daniela Gioseffi is an American Book Award winning author of thriteen books of poetry and prose. Her American Book Award winning anthology, Women on War: International Writings was reissued in an all new edition by Feminist Press, NY 2003. Daniela edits www.poetsusa.com/ Her anthology of world literature, On Prejudice: A Global Perspective, Anchor/Doubleday, NY, 1993, received a World Peace Award at the United Nations from the Ploughshares Foundation. She has won two grant awards in poetry from The New York State Council for the Arts. Her latest book, Blood Autumn (Autunno di sangue) New & Selected Poems will be published in a bilingual English and Italian edition in early 2006 by VIA FOLIOS/Bordighera Press. Her verse has been etched in marble on a wall of PENN Station alongside Whitman's and Ginsberg's, and she has read her poetry on NPR and BBC radio, and throughout the USA and Europe _______________________________________________________________ Papa Susso is a master kora (African harp/lute) player and griot (oral historian) from The Gambia, West Africa. He hails from a long line of griots from the Mandinka people. Taught by his father, he has played kora since the age of five. The kora, a 21 stringed harp-lute, evolved from earlier hunter harps used by the Mandinka people. It is said that the Susso family invented the kora. Today, Papa Susso, based both in the Bronx and Gambia, is considered a goodwill ambassador, traveling throughout the world to share his culture with others. ___________________________________________________________ Nicole Cecilia Delgado is a poet, teacher, editor, and organizer. She was born in Puerto Rico on November 13, 1980. She is editor and coordinator of the literary magazine Zurde, and a member of the editorial group for the magazine Casa Tomada in New York.  She has performed her poetry in diverse spaces in New York, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Cuba, and Peru.   Samples of her work have been published online, in literary magazines, and newspapers around the world.  Her first book, Inventario Secreto de Recetas para Enrolar las Greñas con Cilindros de Colores, was published in 2004.  She is currently working on her second book of poems, Poemas a mi Padre y a mi Madre. ___________________________________________________________ Jamele Malik (Harlym 125) has won numerous poetry competitions and awards and was a finalist in the 2002 Nuyorican Poets Café competition. He has recited his poetry in many respected venues throughout the United States. An accomplished educator, Jamele Malik has also led writing workshops in institutions such as Rikers Island Correctional Facility. Jamele Malik is the founder of both the Hip Hop Society and the Kenyon Alive Poets Society. ___________________________________________________________ Pwu Jean Lee was the 1995 poet of the year chosen by the Poetry Society of California. She is the author of the book of poems, East Wind, West Rain and has had her work anthologized in several renowned literary journals as well as the book, Women on War (Feminist Press, CUNY, 2003). For twenty- eight years, Pwu Jean Lee was a professor of mathematics at County College of Morris, NJ and won an award there for academic excellence. A mother of two and Fluent in both English and Chinese, Pwu Jean Lee is also an accomplished translator. ___________________________________________________________ Myrna Nieves is a Puerto Rican writer of poetry, fiction, essays; a cultural activist; an educator. She completed a BA at the University of Puerto Rico, an MA at Columbia University and a Ph.D. at NYU. She is a founding member and full professor at Boricua College in New York, where she has been director for eighteen years of its Winter Poetry Series. She has published the books Libreta de sueños (narraciones), Viaje a la lluvia, poemas and co- edited Tripartita: Earth, Dreams, Powers, Moradalsur and Mujeres como islas. Her work has been included in anthologies and literary magazines. Awards include a Literary Award of the PEN Club, Outstanding Latina of the United States by El Diario La Prensa and Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Literature from the National Federation of Puerto Rican Pioneers. Myrna Nieves has a daughter, Zaadia Colón. ___________________________________________________________ Ralph Nazareth was born, raised and educated in India. He crossed over to the West when young Americans were flying east on their tragic mission in Vietnam. His poetry explores his movement between worlds and is marked by a creative tension between his Indian Catholic sensibility and his American experience. He has worked in many parts of the country, devoting his time to raising his children, teaching, and the struggle for justice and peace. Currently a Professor of English at Nassau Community College and the Managing Editor of Yuganta Press, he lives with his wife Linda in Stamford, CT. After spending most  of his life supporting poetry and other poets, Ralph Nazareth's first book of poetry, Ferrying Secrets (Yugadi Publishers : Hyderbad, India), was published earlier this year. ___________________________________________________________ Ricardo Leon Pena-Villa is one of Colombia’s most accomplished poets. He has published five volumes of poetry and is currently working on two books. Born in Bogota, Colombia, and now living in the East Village, Manhattan, Ricardo Leon Pena-Villa was featured in Viequethon 20002, Poetry and Music Concert for Peace held on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. He is the editor and founder of the bilingual cultural magazine, Casa Tomada, and the acclaimed website, www.redyaccion.com. Ricardo Leon Pena-Villa is an activist-poet, in the tradition of Pablo Neruda and has organized many educational and cultural programs, notably the 1998 “March for Peace in Colombia” that was held in Queens. ___________________________________________________________ David Gomez  has established himself at an early age as one of the top Bata (Afro-Cuban spiritual tradition) percussionists and drummer in the world. A graduate of the prestigious Michael Carvin School of Music, David Gomez also studied at The Institute of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba with such master percussionists as Jose Luis Quintana (“Changuito”) and religious Bata drummers such as Bolano. David Gomez currently occupies the “timbale” chair for multi-gold Colombian artist Lisandro Meza and when in New York is one of the top call latin Jazz drummers in the city.  David Gomez has recently recorded with artists such as Anthony Jackson, Hiram Bullock and Omar Hakim. He is currently working on his own record and a book on the history of Bata. David is endorsed by LP exclusively. ___________________________________________________________ Carletta Joy Walker, a New York City-based poet, writer, artist and performer as well as journalist and producer, uses and mixes media and her work in public to encourage communication and respect. Carletta wishes to encourage through her work an appreciation of our own stories as essential elements to our well-being. Since ending her weekly free form WBAI radio program HEARTTIME, she periodically contributes editorials and essays to news, arts & public affairs programs. She is the founder of Joy Works Everywhere! Inc, a center for the development of holistic peaceful living, www. joyworkseverywhere.org, and is currently focused on the organization’s September 2006 Peace & Joy Conference. ___________________________________________________________ John Lynch has been a professor in the English Department of LaGuardia Community College for many years. Self-described as a New Yorker who is a “child of all the boroughs”, he has a doctorate from NYU. He is the former President of the Tagore Society, an organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the great poet Rabindrath Tagore. As a poet, he has recited his own work in venues as varied as The Indian Embassy and The Bowery Poetry Club and contributed to magazines like Spring.  For many years, he was the managing editor of the highly respected literary journal, Community Review, and studied with both Jose Garcia Villa and William Packard. John Lynch is a tireless advocate for the importance of poetry especially concerning youth.