Miguel Ángel Ángeles is a queer Xican@ migrant from a small town in rural California and has been transplanted in New York since 2005. The youngest child of his family, he has been fascinated by the word from a young age. He currently works with immigrants as a teacher of English to speakers of other languages. He has read his poetry and short stories throughout New York City, including the Mexican Consulate and most recently at the 2011 Amnesty International Write-a-thon. His short story Cicatrices was published in 2010 in The Best of Panic anthology and “Este Dulce Frio” was published in 2011 in From Macho to Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction. A selection of his poems have been chosen to appear in Joto: An Anthology of Queer Ch/Xicano Poetry, forthcoming.
Yoseli Castillo Fuertes, born in the Dominican Republic and at the age of 16 migrated to the United States, is a bilingual-dominican-latina-lesbian poet-activist-teacher-aunt. She holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Spanish Literature. Since August 2005 she has been organizing the Gay & Lesbian Bohemian Night, an LGBTQ Open Mic in Washington Heights. Her poems and short stories have appeared in several anthologies and she just published her new book of poetry, De eso si se habla / Of That, I Speak.
Karen Jaime A New York-based spoken word/performance artist, cultural activist and writer, Karen Jaime served as the host/curator of the Friday Night Slam at the Nuyorican Poets Café from 2002-2005 and can be seen alongside Miguel Algarin in the 2006 spoken word documentary SPIT. She has also performed at WOW Café Theatre, Dixon Place Experimental Theatre, The Public Theater (Suzann-Lori Parks’ “365 plays/days” project), Pregones Theatre, The Town Hall, The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), Highways Performance Space and Gallery in Santa Monica, California, and at colleges throughout the northeast and Latin America. Karen has also been featured in the Emmy-award winning CUNY-TV program Nueva York, a show that focuses on the different aspects of Latin@ culture in New York City. One of the featured writers in The Best of Panic: En Vivo from the East Village, Karen is also currently completing her PhD. in the Department of Performance Studies at New York University writing on spoken word, slam poetry and hip-hop theater.
Charlie Vázquez is a radical Bronx-bred writer of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent; his writing has appeared in various anthologies, magazines and newspapers. His second novel Contraband, was published in 2010, and his first, Buzz and Israel, is being reedited for future publication. He recently published a bilingual poetry collection called Mediations/Meditaciones – Bronx/Salsa, and co-edited From Macho to Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction with Charles Rice-González. Charlie has lectured and participated on panels relating to gay and/or Latino literature and culture at Columbia University, Fordham University, New York University, Hunter College, the CUNY Graduate Center, Portland State University, Barnes and Noble, and other cultural institutions. He was the host of the groundbreaking reading series HISPANIC PANIC!, and is currently working as a freelance editor and real estate agent hustler specializing in New York City apartment and commercial space rentals. Ask him.
Charles Rice-González (Moderator) , born in Puerto Rico and reared in the Bronx, is a writer, long-time community and LGBT activist and Executive Director of BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. He received a B.A. in Communications from Adelphi University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College. His debut novel, Chulito, was released in October 2011, and he co-edited with Charlie Vázquez From Macho to Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction released in August 2011. He has essays in the forthcoming anthologies Love, Christopher Street and Who’s Yer Daddy, and his play I Just Love Andy Gibb will be published in Blacktino Queer Performance: A Critical Anthology co-edited by E. Patrick Johnson and Ramón H. Rivera-Servera.
Rainbow Book Fair 