Upcoming and past live shows
Packed house for our “Crafty” show at The Astoria Bookshop last night! Stories were swapped, prizes won, books signed.
LIKE our No, YOU Tell It! page for more pics and SUBSCRIBE to our podcast on iTunes or AudioBoom as new episodes featuring last night’s stories are coming soon.
Ruthy Kirwan, Rebecca Chace, Vaughn M. Watson, Marianthy Karantzes
Marianthy has published scholarly works and articles for New York School Talk. This is Marianthy’s first time sharing her creative work. She is currently working on her first novel, Ithaca, a real Greek island where most of her creative work is based.
No, YOU Tell It! “Crafty” is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Rehearsals start today for Wed’s show! Meet storyteller Ruthy Kirwan and grab her hot new book, The Healthy Sheet Pan Cookbook: Satisfying One-Pan Meals for Busy Cooks, which will be available at The Astoria Bookshop.
You might even have the chance to win one! See you on 2/27 for our “Crafty” show.
Ruthy Kirwan is a recipe tester, developer, and cooking instructor living in New York City.
In 2016, Ruthy created the website ‘Percolate Kitchen’ to be a digital kitchen resource for working families. Sharing simple and quick recipes, how-to’s and guides, meal planning and organization tips and ideas, she has built a loyal following of busy parents who are ready to get their act together in the kitchen. You can find out more at percolatekitchen.com
Our second “Crafty” story meeting is tomorrow night. We’re excited to hear the revisions!
Meet storyteller is Rebecca Chase whose books Leaving Rock Harbor & June Sparrow and The Million Dollar Penny will be available at The Astoria Bookshop.
Rebecca Chace is the author of: Leaving Rock Harbor (novel); Capture the Flag (novel); Chautauqua Summer (memoir). Plays: Colette; The Awakening (adaptation of novel by Kate Chopin). Her first book for middle readers, June Sparrow and The Million Dollar Penny, was published in May, 2017. She has written for the New York Times Magazine, New York Times Sunday Book Review, the Huffington Post, NPR’s All Things Considered and other publications. She was a 2016 Writing Fellow at Dora Maar House (Museum of Fine Arts Houston); 2015-2016 member of the Wertheim Study at the New York Public Library; 2014 recipient of the Grace Paley Fiction Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center; The Frances Shaw Fellowship at the Ragdale Foundation; a MacDowell Colony Fellow and Yaddo Foundation fellow. She is Director of the MA in Creative Writing and Literature, and Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Our “Crafty” show is in two weeks, 2/27 at The Astoria Bookshop! Click here for more info and to RSVP.
Our storytellers met each other for the first time last week when they read each other’s feedback aloud and provided feedback. Now they are off to revise before we meet again as a full group on the 20th. Who are these four “Crafty” storytellers? So happy you asked. First up, meet Vaughn M. Watson:
Vaughn M. Watson is a New York-based emerging writer. He has appeared on NPR and has work published in Flying South and Newtown Literary, among other publications. He was the winner of the 2016 Winston-Salem Writer’s Flying South competition and his short story, A Capon, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He is currently working on his first short story collection, Payaos.
Wonderful first story meeting last night for our upcoming “Crafty” show featuring swapped stories from:
Rebecca Chace (Leaving Rock Harbor, June Sparrow and The Million Dollar Penny)
Marianthy Karantzes (New York City DOE Special Education Teacher)
Ruthy Kirwan (visit percolatekitchen.com)
Vaughn M. Watson (Queens Writers’ Lab)
They read each other’s first drafts aloud, feedback was given, laughs exchanged, and now they are off to revise!!
See you on 2/27 at The Astoria Bookshop. Click here to RSVP via Facebook.
We are pleased to share that No, YOU Tell It! has received a 2019 Arts Access Grant. Our sincerest thanks to the Queens Council on the Arts (QCA) and the Queens Arts Fund (QAF) review panel for the support and recommendation.
With the help of this grant, we’re producing two special Queens installments of our series. The FIRST is coming up fast: No, YOU Tell It! “Crafty” February 27th, 6:30, at The Astoria Bookshop.
SAVE THE DATE for an evening of emerging, established, and epicurean writers trading true-life tales inspired by the theme CRAFTY. Click here to RSVP via Facebook.
More info about our storytellers soon!
No, YOU Tell It! “Crafty” is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
What’s coming up for No, YOU Tell It! in 2019?
We will be announcing our full season soon, which includes our team-up show with Lambda Literary in June, but FIRST save the date, Wednesday 2/27 at 6:30, for a special evening of switched-up storytelling at The Astoria Bookshop.
Follow @NoYouTellIt for updates and SUBSCRIBE to our podcast on iTunes or AudioBoom to hear true-life tales with a twist.
What a fabulous show this weekend at the summer residency for Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Creative Writing MFA program!! After working together throughout July to develop their stories on the page, Tiffany L. Berryman, Andrew Condouris, and Eliot Schrefer took the stage Sunday morning, August 5th, to perform each other’s true-life tales inspired by the theme “Schooled.”
The tri-flip was directed by our own Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and we couldn’t be happier by the ecstatic reception from FDU students, alums, and faculty in attendance. Podcast of the live show coming soon. SUBSCRIBE today!
Left: Tiffany L. Berryman, Top: Andrew Condouris, Eliot Schrefer, Tiffany L. Berryman
Click here to see more pictures from the show. Learn more about our switched-up “Schooled” storytellers below!
Left: Eliot Schrefer, Top: Andrew Condouris, Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, Bottom: Lovely FDU applause!
TIFFANY L. BERRYMAN is a former YES Network TV Personality who still believes in the mystical power of the curveball. A former publicist and high school English and creative writing teacher, she fancies herself an inspired-type with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Now, as an educational consultant, Berryman relishes the opportunity to help others find their own authentic voice. She is the co-creator of www.mybookship.com and has a Masters in Theology from Georgian Court University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a concentration in the Young Adult genre. Happily sharing her creative journey on social media as she writes the next chapter and tries to dispel the great myths of New Jersey. And while she prefers her maltipoo, Merlin, to most humans, she promises not to bite if you follow her on twitter @TiffyInspired
ANDREW CONDOURIS has been writing since he was eight years old. One night, the stars in the sky mixed up with the city lights, and he wrote a little poem about it. Since that night, he has always been inspired by shadows and the strange beasts he finds there.
ELIOT SCHREFER is a New York Times-bestselling author and has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award. In naming him an Editor’s Choice, the New York Times has called his work “dazzling… big-hearted.” He is also the author of two novels for adults and four other novels for children and young adults. His books have been named to the NPR “best of the year” list, the ALA best fiction list for young adults, and the Chicago Public Library’s “Best of the Best.” His work has also been selected to the Amelia Bloomer List, recognizing best feminist books for young readers, and he has been a finalist for the Walden Award and won the Green Earth Book Award and Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award. He lives in New York City, where he reviews books for USAToday. Visit www.eliotschrefer.com UPCOMING: His next novel, Orphaned, comes out 9/25!!
Join us at The Astoria Bookshop on May 10th at 6:30 pm for a night of switched-up stories about MAYDAYS of the heart, the soul, and the morning after… Click here to RSVP.
Who are our “Mayday” storytellers? So happy you asked!
One of New York’s fastest rising up and coming comedians, Angela Cobb’s self-deprecating charm and nonchalant intellect make her a favorite among audiences in the Big Apple and beyond. A regular at Broadway Comedy Club, Cobb can also be heard on Sirius XM Radio and her tweets have appeared on Comedy Central’s @midnight, someecards, and in The Huffington Post. Additional credits include ComedyTime TV, and the She-Devil, Stand-Up 360, and Westchester Comedy Festivals.
As a producer, Cobb is the creator and host of “My First Time: A Stand-Up & Storytelling Show” at QED in Astoria, in which comedians and storytellers share hilarious virginity loss tales. The popular show was featured in NYC’s 2016 “StoryFest.” Cobb recently made her acting debut co-starting in “A Hot Mess,” a webseries from Silver Tree Entertainment, LLC and was also ranked #6 in the Fall 2015 issue of It’s Queens: The Magazine’s list of the borough’s “Top 15 Comedians.”
Allison Escoto is a poet, copywriter, and head librarian at the Center for Fiction. She is a New Yorker by way of the suburbs of Louisiana and, with the exception of a few, mostly regrettable exceptions, has lived in Queens since 2001. She is the Associate Editor of Newtown Literary Journal.
Skye Holly’s literary career spans 16 years in writing, journalistic and editorial work. A proud Brooklyn native of Haitian descent, she explores life (or tries to) through a global lens. She is passionate about community development and the arts. She has a Master of Fine Arts from Fairleigh Dickinson University and is pursuing a Master of Science at Columbia University. Her articles and essays have appeared in The African and The Jewish Voice, among other publications. She is a regular contributor to The Haitian Times and The Canarsie Courier. Holly published a collection of poetry in 2010 and has had a few of her plays produced, as well. She works as a Family Coordinator for a charter school by day, moonlights as a journalist by night and is a doting mother to her teen son 24/7. He reminds her how uncool he thinks she is fairly often (but still invites her to hang out with him and his friends from time to time). He knows the deal.
Ryan Holmes is a member of Actors’ Equity Association whose New York theatre credits include SLAM! A Graffiti Musical at New York Theatre Barn; Peace Warriors at Fordham – Lincoln Center; Blocked: A Play About One Man at Manhattan Repertory Theatre; What You Will, a workshop with the Bristol-Riverside Theatre; and the award-winning cabarets Cait Doyle’s Hot Mess in Manhattan and The Rescignos, both at The Duplex. Los Angeles theatre credits include Mariachi Much Ado About Nothing with the East LA Classic Theatre Company; Summer People, and The Bacchae, both with the International Classical Actors’ Project. Ryan is the host of the Internet radio show and podcast, BlazinRy Radio, where he has interviewed showbiz heavyweights like Betty Buckley, Biz Markie, Lea DeLaria, Kellie Pickler, Crystal Waters, Sticky Fingaz, Murphy Lee, Orfeh, Tammy Blanchard, Alex Lacamoire, Tommy James, and AJR. Ryan is excited to return to No, YOU Tell It for the fourth time.
Visit http://blazinryradio.com or download the podcast for free at http://bit.ly/blazinryitunes.
