No, YOU Tell It! in partnership with Poets of Queens (poetsofqueens.com) is proud to announce the forthcoming anthology, Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers, coming in the spring of 2026.
Prom Queens team. Photo credit Sachyn Mital.
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 from Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and Zach Rothman-Hicks (Gabbing with Gays). Kelly Jean also read from her memoir After After Prom, which was the inspiration for the Prom Queens workshops and anthology.
Sharing stories about going or not going to prom allows us to find commonality within each other’s unique cultures and identities. This anthology aims to help people, including future prom goers, celebrate in 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!
Prom is short for promenade, a French word meaning “a leisurely walk.” This slow walk also refers to the parade of guests, often in pairs, which acts as an opening ceremony for a cotillion or debutante ball. Inspired by No, YOU Tell It!’s practice of creating story partners who help each other share the stories that need to be told, the anthology is arranged as a poetry and prose promenade of paired up Prom Queens contributors. Each promenade pair is introduced by an illustration capturing their combined spirit by Queens artist and contributor A King McCarty, whose “Zombie Prom Queen” poem originated in one of the generative workshops.
Our book events will feature Prom Queens poetry and prose promenade pairs reading each other’s words aloud. Likewise, attendees will be encouraged to share their prom story by filling in the blanks of a series of PROMpts that were part of our 2025 No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” show at Grove 34 in Astoria, Queens.
The Prom Queens anthology is a continued celebration of prom poems and stories, Queens writers, and you.
