VONA VOICES SELFIE, with Blogger Chauncey Mabe in the background, on their ride up to the roof deck –at a reading on South Beach, June 29, 2015 – at The Betsy Hotel. (facebook)
VONA/Voices Joins the Miami Literary Movement-
with programming this summer at U of Miami, Books&Books, and The Betsy - South Beach
by Chauncey Mabe
The reception welcoming VONA/Voices to Miami was scheduled for the roof of The Betsy-South Beach Hotel, with space and views and paella for everyone. But as can happen on a summer evening in the tropics, rain intervened, forcing the event into the plush but intimate confines of the B Bar, in the hotel’s basement. No matter. There was still poetry, from local scribes Jaswinder Bolina, Adrian Castro, and Glenda Galan, music from Spanish guitarist Rodolfo Troncoso, and plenty of paella courtesy of The Betsy and the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, co-sponsors of the reception. Betsy's literary partner Books&Books was on hand with books for purchase from the various participating authors who make up the VONA organization.
"In part because of our Iberoamerican Literature effort, Escribe Aquí, we’ve been following VONA for awhile,” Pablo Cartaya, program director at the Betsy Hotel, told the standing-room-only crowd. “When M. Evelina Galang came and told me VONA was moving to Miami, I nearly jumped out of my seat. We’re just proud to help and be a part of supporting the mind-blowing work they do. Now let’s have a party!”
In addition to the paella reception, The Betsy hosted two of the VONA writers, Elmaz Abinader and Faith Adiele, for residencies in The Betsy’s Writers Room. Both participated in a Breakfast Salon that was free and open to the public. Abinader told the story of VONA’s founding, and of her experiences as an Arab-American writer, from childhood in a rural West Virginia hamlet to the pressures that followed 9-11. Adiele, whose father is Nigerian, spoke of her childhood with a single mom of Scandinavian descent, and how her search for identity drove her to become the first black Buddhist nun in Thailand. She’s a travel writer and humorist, as indicated by the titles of her works, such as The Nordic-Nigerian Girls Guide to Lady Problems.
More formally known as the Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation, VONA was founded in 1999 by writers Junot Diáz, Elmaz Abinadar, Victor Diáz, and Diem Jones to provide an annual workshop where emerging writers of color could be mentored by established writers of color. “VONA began as a plan to provide a safe place for writers of color,” said co-founder and executive director Diem Jones. “Our voices have been marginalized and unheard and we have to turn that around.” After 15 years in the Bay Area, first at San Francisco State University, and then at the University of California, Berkely, VONA forged a partnership with the University of Miami to relocate the workshop for at least the next three years.
Leonidas G. Bachas of UM’s College of Arts & Sciences, in attendance at the Betsy reception, called VONA a natural partnership for the University. “The presence of VONA on our Coral Gables campus will have an enormous impact on our community as we support and engage the University’s commitment to diversity,” he said.
Some 2,200 American and international writers – Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans, Asians and Asian Americans – have gone through the workshop since 1999. Alumni, including Patricia Engle, Tayari Jones, Daisy Hernandez and many others, have produced more than 300 published books. The workshops are divided into two one-week sessions, with a total of 80 students and two separate faculties of seven writers each covering fiction writing, poetry, travel, nonfiction, political content, LGBTQ narrative, playwriting, speculative fiction, and popular fiction. “We’re the only multi-genre workshop for writers of color in the country,” Galang said. This year’s first week faculty consisted of Junot Diaz, Elmaz Abinader, David Mura, Ruth Forman, Marjorie Liu, Staceyann Chin, and Kim Euell, while week two featured Galang, Chris Abani, Achy Abejas, Tananarive Due, Faith Adiele, Andrew X Pham, and Willie Perdomo.
“My two worlds have collided,” M. Evelina Galang, Creative Writing Director at UM and VONA/Voices organizer, told the crowd at the Betsy. A Filipina-American novelist, Galang has spent the past five years developing a multi-lingual focus in the university’s graduate Creative Writing Program and was instrumental in bringing VONA to South Florida.
VONA had become a much-loved event in the ethnically diverse, politically charged Bay Area, with hundreds showing up for the public faculty readings. There was concern that the first year in Miami might see lowered numbers and interest, both among students and in the public readings. “We expected a drop off for the workshops,” Jones said. “Instead, we received a record number of applications.” The two faculty readings, one at the Coral Gables Congregational Church, featuring Junot Diaz and six other faculty members, including co-founder Abindader, were well attended. Indeed, the second, featuring Galang, Chris Abani, and the other members of the second-week faculty, overflowed Books & Books, and even overwhelmed the store’s air conditioning. And events at The Betsy did not disappoint either, with every seat filled.
Elmaz Abinader, also a novelist and essayist, read a brand new poem entitled “Needlework,” so new it’s not found in her recent collection This House, My Bones. Peter London, the renowned choreographer and director of the Miami-based Peter London Global Dance Company, was so taken with her story and poetry, he declared he was already developing a dance in his head. A frequent face at the Betsy’s literary events, London has created dances to accompany poetry in the past. “When I’m moved by words,” he said, “all I can do is dance to express how I feel.”
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Guest Blogger, Chauncey Mabe is a seasoned journalist with a 20-year legacy of exemplary literary criticism for South Florida’s Sun Sentinel. (Mabe is the husband of Evelina Galang, Creative Writing Chair at UM and VONA Voices organizer, mentioned in this article.) With funding from The John S. and James L Knight Foundation, The Betsy-South Beach has engaged Mabe in a project to document literary programs from the inside out – sharing the creative viewpoints of wide-ranging writers who connect with Miami’s literary community through residencies in The Betsy’s Writers Room (betsywritersroom.com), from March to August 2015.
