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Kimiko Hahn joins First Lady Jill Biden at The White House

Professor Kimiko Hahn joined First Lady Jill Biden and Kishida Yuko, wife of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, in a cultural program as part of an official visit to Washington, just last week.

Fresh off the heels of winning the Ruth Lilly lifetime achievement award from the Poetry Foundation, Kimiko led writing exercises with a group of local high school students, which drew from her heritage and celebrated Japanese culture. The First Lady, who is herself a former teacher of writing, of course knew that Kimiko Hahn would be a great choice to lead this workshop in honor of the Japanese ambassador’s visit.

If you want to see some of this special event, you can watch the video from The White House YouTube page:

Congratulations, Kimiko!

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Celebrating New Books by Alumni | April 1

We are delighted to welcome Sunu Chandy and Roger Wyze Smith back to Queens, so we can celebrate their new books. (Unfortunately, Ariel Francisco cannot make it.) Their books will for sale in the reception area, and Sunu and Roger will sign them. Feel free to come early if want some pre-event snaks!

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Alumni Reading with Sunu Chandy and Roger Wyze Smith

We’re excited to welcome two alumni–Sunu Chandy and Roger Wyze Smith–to campus to read from their newly published books!

Note: Unfortunately Ariel Francisco can’t make it this time, but we look forward to welcoming him in the near future.

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Alaya Dawn Johnson – New Visiting Professor

We are so excited to announce that our program’s next Visiting Professor will be the award-winning author Alaya Dawn Johnson!

One of the great things about our MFA Program here at Queens College is that we invite a new writer to teach with us every year so that students can dive further into different aspects and genres of writing and get a fresh perspective on their work. Johnson, who writes fantasy for both adults and young adults, will open up unique doors for our students studying under her.

We’ve included a bio below, but you can also read more about her work here on her website!

Welcome to Queens, Alaya!

BIO:

Alaya Dawn Johnson is an award-winning short story writer and the author of eight novels for adults and young adults. Her novel Trouble the Saints won the 2021 World Fantasy Award for best novel. Her debut short story collection, Reconstruction, was an Ignyte Award and a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist. Her debut YA novel The Summer Prince was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, most notably the title story in The Memory Librarian, in collaboration with Janelle Monáe. 

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12/2 – Queens Writer Series: Rebecca Suzuki

Saturday, December 2nd at 5PM
The World’s Borough Bookshop
3406 73rd Street, Queens, NY 11372

MFA alum Rebecca Suzuki’s award-winning chapbook, When My Mother Is Most Beautiful, officially hits shelves on December 1st, and is debuting with style the next day at The World’s Bookshop in Jackson Heights, whose mission is to uplift BIPOC voices. Rebecca will be joined by multilingual Queens poet and fellow alum Hannah Lee, for an evening that is sure to be as beautiful as this book is!

When My Mother Is Most Beautiful is at once a powerful love letter to a mother and to language itself, delving into complex questions of family, communication, culture, and connection. These poems chronicle the difficult art of navigating multiple cultural identities, examining how languages twist and morph across cultures through the imperfect act of translation, how they bind people together and keep them apart, and even how they could be reimagined to make a better world.

You can pick up this book at the book party, of course, or order a copy today from Small Press Distribution!

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Virtual Open House

Located in the most culturally and linguistically diverse county in the nation,  the Queens College MFA program attracts students dedicated to crossing boundaries in genre, craft, and language. Classes are small, mostly in the evening, and students work closely with faculty mentors. Join an exciting creative community with affordable public university tuition in an urban environment with a verdant 80-acre campus. To find out more, please join the virtual open house on Wednesday, November 15, from 5 – 6:30 PM EST. Zoom link HERE.