Lovely beginning of the year energy boost!
My memoir, After After Prom, is a finalist in Unleash Press’s 2025 Fall/Winter WIP Prize.
Thank you, Unleash Press, and congratulations to all the finalists!
WIP Finalist
2025 Recap
Happy Holidays! Take a look at an incredible year of No, YOU Tell It!
Shout out to photographers Russ Rowland and Sachyn Mital for capturing so many incredible moments.
See you in 2026 for another year of switched-up fun.
Grateful
Look below to see all YOU helped No, YOU Tell It! accomplish in 2025.
Please keep us in mind this Giving Tuesday by making a one-time tax-deductible donation or setting up a recurring one through our fiscal sponsor, The Field.
Donate here! No donation is too small, and all go directly to compensating our Queens creative artists.
Prom Queens Anthology!
No, YOU Tell It!, in partnership with Poets of Queens, is proud to announce the forthcoming anthology, Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers, coming in the spring of 2026.
Supported, in part, by a Queens Art Fund: New Work Grant, the anthology stems from a series of Prom Queens: Prom Story and Portrait Trading Workshops held around Queens in May and June of 2025.
During these free, generative workshops, participants were invited to share their prom story through a series of written and visual prompts provided by Zach Rothman-Hicks (Gabbing with Gays) and me.
I also read from my memoir After After Prom, which served as the inspiration for the Prom Queens workshops and anthology.
Sharing stories about going or not going to prom allows us to find commonalities within each other’s unique cultures and identities. This anthology aims to help people, including future prom-goers, celebrate each other’s prom stories instead of feeling pressured to live up to what pop culture has taught us prom is supposed to look like.
What better place to give voice to a diverse range of prom stories than The World’s Borough!
New College Essay KJ
First COLLEGE ESSAY KJ in a hot minute because… I’ve been busy working with students as early decision/early action deadlines approach.
Please share with students, educators, and guardians who may be struggling with those exhausting SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS!
No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” Tonight
Tonight! No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” is proud to be an official 2025 Bookend Event as part of the Brooklyn Book Festival, now celebrating its 20th Anniversary.
Bookend events––in person in all five boroughs and online––run from September 14th through 22nd, and are a vital part of the Brooklyn Book Festival’s mission to present programming that is hip, smart, diverse, and inclusive for NYC and beyond. We hope you can join us this weekend in Downtown Brooklyn––the Brooklyn Book Festival Children’s Day is Saturday, from 10am-4pm, and the Festival Day & Literary Marketplace is on Sunday, from 10am-6pm. All events are free! Pick up a Festival guide, or visit brooklynbookfestival.org for more info.
Save the Date: No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” 9/17
Save the date for our next No, YOU Tell It! show: 9/17. This is going to be a super fun one!
- No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” is AN OFFICIAL 2025 BOOKEND EVENT, part of a week of literary events across all five boroughs leading up to the 20th anniversary of the Brooklyn Book Festival.
- YES! The show is in Queens at Grove 34 in Astoria and features contributors to our forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers anthology from Poets of Queens.
- Our own Tim Lindner is stepping up as a storyteller for the first time!
- NYTI Alums Olena Jennings and A. King McCarty are creating original artwork.
- I’m reading from my memoir After After Prom.
Plus, other PROM QUEENS surprises! Save the date and see you in September.
***
THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2025 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT.
This project is made possible (in part) with public funds from the
Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.
This organization is funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation
administered by Flushing Town Hall
Prom Queens: Call for Submissions
There are two weeks left to submit your prom poems and stories for publication in the forthcoming anthology from Poets of Queens.
SUBMIT and SPREAD THE WORD to the Queens writers in your life!
Share Your Prom Story!
👑✨ PROM QUEENS WORKSHOP ✨👑
Saturday, June 21 at 2 PM
📍 Broadway Library – Small Auditorium (40-20 Broadway, Queens)
Free! RSVP HERE.
What’s your prom story—or what did you do instead?
Join us for a creative writing workshop where you’ll:
✍️ Write your own prom story with prompts from me and Zach Rothman-Hicks.
🎨 Trade portraits with a partner using transparency tracing and storytelling
📖 Hear a reading from my memoir “After After Prom”
📚 Have a chance to be published in the Prom Queens anthology from Poets of Queens!
Click here for more information on the Prom Queens workshops and anthology.
This project is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.
2025 QAF Recipient!
I’m excited to announce that I’m a 2025 Queens Arts Fund recipient!
Share your prom story and submit to the forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers anthology from Poets of Queens. Learn more and submit here.
This project-based grant will enable me to bring a series of Prom Queens: Prom Story and Portrait Trading Workshops to Astoria, Jackson Heights, and more in May and June.
Click here to learn more and sign up for a workshop.
I will also read from my memoir-in-progress, After After Prom, at the workshops.
The Prom Queens workshops and anthology aim to give voice to a diverse range of prom poems and stories instead of the prom myth polished by pop culture.
Thank you to New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs for helping to support this work. Click here for the full 2025 Queens Arts Fund award announcement.
Be sure to follow #QAF2025 for details on when and where you can experience the arts in Queens this calendar year!