Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond.
CITY ARTIST CORPS GRANTS: WRITERS NANA EKUA BREW-HAMMOND AND FELICE NEALS READ ORIGINAL FICTION IN THE BRONX
Free live event at the Bronx’s Boogie Down Grind Café to simulcast Oct. 26, at 3PM on WBAI 99.5 FM and www.wbai.org
New York City-based writers Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Felice Neals are coming together to share their work, the resources and influences that shape their craft, and their thoughts on the pleasures and pressures of being a writer right now. Both creators of African descent, the pieces they will read from are set in Ethiopia and Ghana. Black Star News Publisher Milton Allimadi will simulcast the reading and conversation on his Black Star Radio Show on WBAI.
“The Bronx is home to one of the highest populations of African-born New Yorkers so we are excited to read our work in this community café,” Brew-Hammond said.
Free and open to the public, this event is made possible using funds from the City Artist Corps Grants program.
Brew-Hammond is one of 3,000 New York City-based artists to receive $5,000 through the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre.
Over the course of three award cycles, more than 3,000 artists received $5,000 grants to engage the public with artist activities across New York City’s five boroughs this summer and fall. Recipients were invited to use the grant to create new work or phase of a work, or restage preexisting creative activities across any discipline. Members of the public can participate in City Artist Corps Grants programming by following the hashtag #CityArtistCorps on social media.
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond.
Felice Neals is an avid traveler, writer, language buff, film enthusiast and photographer.
She received her MA in Media/Film Studies at The New School University in New York City in 2013 and her MFA in Creative Writing at City College, New York, in 2018, where she began the journey with her current novel-in-progress. She is also the author of screenplays, short stories, travel narratives and non-fiction essays. She is also the founder of (Re) An Ideas Journal.
Her work has been featured in various publications including Catapult, Odyssey Magazine, Day One Literary Journal and the New York Times. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the City College of NY, CUNY and works, lives and pursues her dreams in downtown New York City.
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond is the author of Powder Necklace, which Publishers Weekly called “a winning debut.” Named to the “Africa39” list of writers “with the potential and talent to define trends in the development of literature from Sub-Saharan Africa and the diaspora,” her short fiction was included in the anthology Africa39. Her work also appears in Everyday People: The Color of Life and New Daughters of Africa, among others. Forthcoming from Brew-Hammond are a children’s picture book, a novel, and an anthology of works by African writers. Brew-Hammond was a 2019 Edward F. Albee Foundation Fellow, a 2018 Aké Arts and Book Festival Guest Author, a 2017 Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar, a 2016 Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence, and a 2015 Rhode Island Writers Colony Writer-in-Residence. Every month, Brew-Hammond co-leads a writing fellowship at Manhattan’s Center for Faith and Work.
City Artist Corps Grants was launched in June 2021 by NYFA and DCLA with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre. The program is funded by the $25 million New York City Artist Corps recovery initiative announced by Mayor de Blasio and DCLA earlier this year. The grants are intended to support NYC-based working artists who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. It is strongly recommended that a portion of the grant be used to support artist fees, both for the applying artist and any other artist that are engaged to support the project.
