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Tuesday, December 30, 2014


Filmmaker Luca Guardabscio has a new movie coming out. It's a documentary produced by Robert Morris University and Guardabascio on the life and death of poet Zach Aiko, who vanished in 2014 right before he held a conference at the university.

Below are two trailers of the documentary, edited by journalist and blogger Katherine Withrow and singer and filmmaker Victoria Lomax respectively:

Promo 1

Promo 2

Saturday, November 29, 2014

And the journey continues

Photo provided by Luca Guardabascio
On Wednesday November 19th, Luca Guardabascio presented his book, "Stones on the Ocean," at Oberlin College in Ohio. On December 4th, he will return to Detroit for another presentation. He plans to present the book in Philadelphia on December 13th and in New York on December 15th. The New York presentation will be sponsored by La Federazione Delle Associazioni Campane in USA.

Guardabascio is also busy shooting a new movie on the Italian American poet, Zach Aiko at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania. Click here to be directed to the official Facebook page of the movie.


Photo provided by Guardabascio
Photo provided by Guardabascio

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Mark your calendar!


Photo provided by Moonlight & Mangos
The Artist behind Moonlight and Mangos has been very busy wearing many hats, including working for the Nassau County government and preparing for the upcoming Tuesday November 4th election.
The four days leading to the election will be the busiest as The Artist will be managing the Get out to Vote initiative for the re-election campaign of Haitian-American NYS Assemblywoman, Michaelle Solages. This initiative aims to encourage NY residents in especially Elmont and Valley Stream to vote and become more involved in their community's decision-making process.
"It's important to vote," said The Artist. "If people don't get up and vote, they will never get what they deserve."
"People count on us to not vote so they can stay in power," she added. "You can't complain [about your situation] if you don't do something."
The Artist is in charge of coordinating with volunteers and paying workers to make phone calls for the election. Moreover, she is currently looking for poll workers for 2Pm-9PM and 3PM-7PM shifts. The salary is 10/hr. If you are looking to make extra cash and help out an important cause, please get in touch with her at (516) 244-9560.
She also works as the director of Creative Art Space for Kids, a non-profit art center for kids located in the Long Island area. There, you will also find her paintings along the walls for purchase.
"I have been selling a lot of paintings," said The Artist who explained that despite her busy schedule, she always manages to find time to paint. 
There will be an Open House for the Creative Art Space for Kids on November 16th. On December 6th, The Artist will have an Art Exhibition also at the Creative Art Space for Kids. This exhibition will be a celebration of her birthday and a ground to raise money for Haiti Relief Fund, an organization where The Artist serves as Vice President. 34% of the proceeds will go to this organization. 
She further explained that wearing very different hats makes her more creative. 
"This is just the beginning," she stated. "I have no limit." 
She is now working on putting together an art book and a collection of her writings. 

I plan to see all of you at those events. The Creative Art Space for Kids address is below. ;)
CASK Creative Art Space for Kids
48 Atlantic Ave Lynbrook NY 11563

Photo provided by Moonlight & Mangos
Photo provided by Moonlight & Mangos

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Stones on the Ocean Presentations

The Flyer of the NYPD event on Oct. 23rd. Courtesy of Luca Guardabascio
This upcoming week, Luca Guardabascio will be very busy presenting his new book, Stones on the Ocean: The story of Giovanni Esposito and Joe Petrosinoi, in Michigan. He will be a speaker at the XIV Week of Italian Language in the World event by Wayne State University on Wednesday Oct. 22nd.
The next day, Thursday Oct. 23rd, Guardabascio will be presenting at the New York Pizza Depot (NYPD) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As quoted by David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, Guardabascio's book covers a topic that despite its prominence has not been covered a lot: The great Italian migration.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Stones on The Ocean

The cover of Luca Guardabascio's new book, "Stones on The Ocean
Luca Guardabascio's book on the life of Joe Petrosino and Givanni Esposito, two Italians who migrated to the United States, is now available! The story touches on a very important subject, the Italian migration to the USA, and their contribution to the American culture and history. This project has been a long time coming, and you can see the blog post we wrote on this cool project on May 23rd, 2013 by clicking here.

He will presenting the book in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit, and New York.

Ciao!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

31 Poems

Sur Mon 31 is officially published and available on Amazon, iTune, Sociéte des Écrivains and Bouquinplus.com. Tanguy Exumé describes it all as a dream come true–something that he wanted to accomplished for a long time now.
Years ago as a staff member of the Salon du Livre de Montréal, he tried to imagine what it would feel like to be one of those authors.
Today he is in Montréal presenting his collection of poetry at the Journée du Livre Haïtien.The official book launch was on August 7th at Le Centre Culturel Francophone in Vancouver. More events will be coming up. On September 7th, he will be reading some of his English work in the Poetic Justice event in Vancouver. He is also planning a spoken word show on September 19th.
Be among the first to know everything happening with Exumé and his new book by following him on Twitter.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Toxic Concert




Haitian Band "Toxic" is performing with Stuba tonight at 8:00 at the Backyard in Petion-Ville. Please click on the link below for more information:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1446473092306181/

Friday, June 20, 2014

Tanguy Exumé: Take a look at the book cover

Book cover of Sur Mon 31
Excitement is definitely in the air as Tanguy Exumé is getting ready to debut his poetry book, Sur Mon 31. The collection is full of reflective pieces on our society, identity and politics.
He also started recording the audio version of the poems, with one of them, Référentiel, being available on soundcloud.
Want to learn more about the poet and his œuvre, connect with him through those following social media:
Feel free to drop him a note, he'll respond!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

The Roving Tree Book Tour

Click here to be directed to Elsie Augustave's website to view more pictures.

Luca Guardabascio in New York

Luca Guardabascio will be doing a presentation, along with Don Marcello Stanzione, on June 5th at the Italian American Museum at 6:30 PM. Make sure you attend it. Call the number indicated on the flyer to reserve a seat.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Moonlight and Mangos on Communication Corner Part Deux


On this second episode of Communication Corner, the Moonlight and Mangos artist chatted with Gail Lewis on what inspires her to paint and on her work as an art teacher in the 5 Start Sports and Entertainment Academy. Viewers had a chance to see the artist in action as she dedicated the rest of the episode to painting alongside Lewis.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Hilary Clinton has a few advices for you

I just wanted to share this article on former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's speech at the Association of American Publishers this year. Her lessons are worth taking notes of. Click here to be directed to it.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Elsie Augustave: Discussion with a reader

Photo by Sabine Cherenfant
I met Elsie Augustave not too far from Times Square on a cold Thursday evening. She wore a black fur collar coat and held a canvas bag and a purse hinting at her life as a teacher at the Stuyvesant High School in New York. After a "quick" stop, we made our way to the last floor of a building to talk about her debut novel, The Roving Tree, published by Akashic Books.
The novel depicts the brief life of Iris, a young Haitian adopted at the age of five by a liberal American family in the ending years of the Civil Rights Movement. The book takes you to the course of her life as she struggles to fit in and reconnect with her past. She moves from one place to another, all in a subconscious search for identity. Many topics arose from the book– political struggle, racism, Africanism, cultural boundaries and the mere history of humanity.
"Iris is a survivor," concluded Augustave as we discussed this heroine's ability to rise above all challenges and keep her head high despite all traumas.
As a reader, you begin to admire Iris' strength, and her independence becomes inspiring.
Yet, ask Augustave her reason for writing this book and she won't have an answer. Truthfully, she just knew she wanted to write a book. She was not trying to convey a message. Rather, she wanted to express herself leaving the readers the choice to find their own message.
"It wasn't so much that I was going to write a book about this or that," she explained. "The first thing I decided was I was going to write a book. The second thing was 'what about?'"
That is where her strong interest in the Haitian culture and her experience spinning the globe came into play. They guided her in writing the novel.
Even though Augustave's life is distinct from the life of Iris's, they are both travelers and seekers in nature.
"our itineraries are the same," said Augustave who have traveled or lived in all of the places mentioned in the book. Life circumstances led Iris from Haiti to the United States to Senegal, Zaire and France.
I asked Augustave about her most memorable experience traveling to South America, West Africa and Europe, and she recounted her time studying anthropology and archeology in Colombia in the 1970's, stubbornly visiting San Basilio de Palenque, a village founded by escaped slaves, for her final project. The mayor of the village took her in since there was no hotel in this isolated but historical community near Cartagena.
Just like Iris, Augustave grew up in Haiti under the Duvalier era and left at a young age.
"I was much older than miss Iris," she said. "I must have been 12 or 13 years old. It was quite a different experience."
Iris lived in Westchester with her family. Augustave's family first moved in Spring Valley, where few Haitians lived at the time.
"There were only three families [then]," she remembered. Her sister, the son of her father's friend and she were the only Haitians in the school they enrolled in.
On weekends they would visit family members and friends in brooklyn and the city. Seeing how happy those visits made her sister and her, her parents decided to move closer to the city.
Moreover, in addition to their early move to the US, dancing also united Iris and Augustave. Dancing connected Iris to her culture and transported her to Zaire where the second part of the novel takes place. Dancing gave her a purpose. Dancing also connected Augustave to her culture.
"I started dancing in Haiti but nothing structured," said Augustave who used to participate in neighborhood plays in Cabaret, Haiti.
She took ballet and modern dance classes when she moved to the US, studying under a famous Haitian dancer and learning Katherine Dunham's techniques. Augustave went on to choreograph a major production for the National Dance Theater of Zaire.
She also found another way to reconnect with her culture when she received a grant from Howard University and traveled to Haiti for a summer to study Haitian folklore. She spent a large amount of time in the north of the country, attending voodoo ceremonies with a historian friend. That time will shape Iris's return to the land.
"I wanted to write about that kind of world where people believe in life under water," said Augustave. "Monn Neg is an invention of my imagination. I wanted Iris's experience as a Haitian to be from that world."
That supernatural world also feeds this search for identity. We talked about the global aspect of the book, the common need among African descents in the Americas to know the past.
Augustave, who is currently writing her second novel, previously stated writing as her mission.
"When something becomes an obsession, it has to be because it is something you're meant to do," she replied when I asked her to elaborate on writing being her mission. "I'd like to know I have written before I die."
She is a reader at heart though her busy life makes reading and leisure almost impossible.
"I haven't used the word fun in my vocabulary in so long," she joked.
Lastly, I asked her what would be her advice to young writers to which she replied, "... perseverance and discipline are the two most important qualities one needs to achieve a dream."
"You have to persevere," she added. "Your desire to achieve that dream should be stronger than any obstacle."

Monday, February 24, 2014

Moonlight And Mangos on Communication Corner


The artist behind Moonlight and Mangos, Jessica Mitchell, stopped by Communication Corner to chat with Gail Lewis about her artwork and the role of emotions in her pieces. The different pieces varying from canvas painting, bottles to 3D art lit the Queens Public TV studio with their vibrant and sparkling colors. Lewis and Mitchell went around the room discussing the different pieces that were present and represented only a small sample of the more than 250 pieces Mitchell has in her catalog.
They talked about the recurring theme of moving forward in life seen in her art, the message of positivity she is promoting, the different things she incorporates in her work and the story behind each work. They also talked about her moonlight collection and her similarity to Jean Michel Basquiat.
Please view the video!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Moonlight and Mangos and Her Projects

Listen to Moonlight and Mangos talk about her art and upcoming projects by clicking here to be directed to the radio interview. Moreover, her art will be auctioned this Saturday Feb. 15th at the 11th Annual Elmont Online taking place at Adelphi University at 5:30 pm. Her TV appearance will soon be available for viewing.

Friday, January 31, 2014

2014 Benefit Concert featuring Moonlight and Mangos' s Artwork

Photo by Sabine Cherenfant
This Sunday Feb. 2nd, Moonlight and Mangos' s artwork will be featured in a benefit concert at the Elmont Memorial High School. Please click here to be directed to the page to RSVP and attend this event. 

Friday, January 17, 2014

Digital Book World: Writing is not enough

Photo by Sabine Cherenfant
From Jan. 13 to Jan 15, leaders in the publishing industry reunited at the fifth annual Digital Book World Conference + Expo to talk about ways to help the industry successfully adapt to the digital era. Although the conference was mainly focus on helping publishers find innovative ways to maintain the publishing industry, writers should definitely heed the topics discuss in the sessions. They play a very important part on transitioning the publishing industry to a digitally aware market. Below are some points I gathered that all writers (artists in general) should keep in mind:
  • As a writer, your brand is very important. Indeed, this is not a secret. We live in a world where social media can either make or break you. As a writer, you must have an online presence. Build your own community/followers. Take advantage of social media to make your mark. 
  • Fan loyalty drives sales. This was a very important point made by one of the speakers at the conference. Moreover, As Ashleigh Gardner of WattPad noted, when you interact with your fans (especially on social media), you boost their interest and in turn build a stronger loyalty. Follow your followers. Get to know them. 
  • Consider both self-publishing and a publishing company. Self-publishing is very tricky. Writer, Dana Beth Weinberg stressed that you have to persist until you successfully sell your book. You have to keep writing. You will also need to hire professionals to edit the book, format it and design the cover. Yet, with tools like amazon.com and other marketplaces, you can easily sell the book. Most importantly, all of the revenues come to you. Weinberg also pinpointed that both methods are segmented. None is better than the other. Authors who use both methods gather more revenues than authors who use only one or the other. Furthermore, as Matt Macinnis of Inkling said, people value authority, which is what publishers bring. They gave your book the stamp that approves it as a material worthwhile for readers. 
  • Book-to-book consistency ensures sales growth. As a writer, you have a lower chance of having your books flop when you are consistent in what you put out.
  • There's real opportunity in failure. Dominique Raccah of Sourcebooks held a presentation on the role of failure in helping you look at yourself. As she stated: "You look at yourself more when you fail." Failure gives you a chance to discover other solutions, become more innovative and take your time to analyze the things you are doing. 
  • Make sure your book is available in a digital format. There's just no way around it. 
  • Be forward-minded. Be aware of the start-ups out there. Most importantly experiment with them. Do not dismiss any of them because you can't predict which one will work and which one won't. As one of the speakers explained, no one can pick winners because based on research, the winners are never the ones on the experts' list of best start-ups. 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Reintroducing Elizabeth Fabien

Photo Provided by Elizabeth Fabien
Elizabeth Fabien is a poet, playwright and the author of the collection of poems, W.O.R.D.S.: Wisdom to Survival. A four time recipient of the International Library of Poetry Editor's Choice award, she often performs her pieces at Boukan Night in Florida and has over 400 written pieces in counting. She discovered the joy of writing 14 years ago after watching the Christmas contests in Haiti, which were filled with talented composers. The poetic music inspired her to explore her inner writing ability. Moreover, after moving to the U.S., she used writing as a way to learn English. What was just a tool to practice English turned into a form of expression for her, tapping into subjects like love, nature, God, society and the Haitian culture. She had the opportunity to recite her poems at her Alma Matter, at weddings, galas and literary clubs. Fabien hopes to publish her works in the future and to be know nationally and internationally. She is currently working on a project for Haiti, titled “Phoenix has risen.”

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Art Show Fundraiser Feat Moonlight and Mangos This Weekend


8 of Moonlight and Mangos's pieces of art will be for sale at the From Here To Haiti (FHTH) Art Show Fundraiser this Saturday and Sunday at 1 to 6 PM. 30 % of the money will go to the FHTH nonprofit organization. Be there!!!

Monday, January 13, 2014

Tanguy Exume's "Sur Mon 31" soon to be published!

It came on December 20th, five days before Christmas and 12 days before the new year. It was just an email with a simple subject line yet a message big enough to push a long scream out of Tanguy Exume.
"It was a long yell as if someone in my family passed away [followed by] constant laughter," divulged Exume. "I just couldn't imagine it. Finally I had a positive answer on having something published."
Now begins the process to publishing Exume's collection of poems, "Sur Mon 31," and he is more than ready for it. He has already signed the contract, sent corrections, took out the English poems (including the poem that will feature a rap verse by Mizzy) and replaced them with French poems. He will soon receive a tentative cover, and from there, there will be a lot of back and forth to bring the book to its final look before officially publishing it in four months or less.
It all started 10 months ago in March as a "tentative project" (as Exume describes it) to challenge himself to write 31 poems in 31 days for his 31st year on earth.
"I was working on just following a task, so sometimes it was painful," he admitted. "Some nights, I would be like 'OMG I have to write a poem today.'"
Other nights, he would wake up in the middle of the night realizing he forgot to finish a poem.
"It was the first series not based on inspiration," he said. I was forcing myself to write as opposed to feeling something and writing about it."
The collection is made of a diverse set of poems varying from political and social issues to pure love. As Exume pinpointed, several of the poems contrast with the title, which refers to the expression "Sur mon 31" (meaning to be on your Sunday best).
He wrote one of the poems (also one of his favorites) in Vancouver Island where the aboriginal heritage is celebrated.
"We went by a lot of Totem Poles, and that day I had to write a poem," he narrated. "And I [thought] if they ask me build a Totem Pole, what would it be, what would it contain, what would be my heritage and what would it represent?"
"Mon Totem/ Un poeme/ L'embleme de ma vie boheme/ Le siege de mes dilemmes/ Mon Totem..." he wrote describing every aspect of his life. 
He joked about his inability to draw and explained writing the poem was his way of drawing with words his Totem pole.
Also in the collection is a poem on Aida, the love goddess and on John Coltrane, the famous Jazz saxophone player.
"It about how I feel when I listen to John Coltrane, and the fact that I grew up with my dad playing the saxophone," said Exume. "All of those memories resurface throughout the poem, but the poem is really based on the accomplishments of John Coltrane and his influence on me."
Once the book comes out, he plans to tour and promote his book in Vancouver and Montreal, Canada and of course, his country Haiti.
As mentioned in my first article on Exume, he is also hoping to produce a CD composed of a dozen of the poems. Due to budget and time constraints, he didn't start this project yet. Nonetheless, Exume is determined to give his fans something concrete to remember him in addition to his live performances.
Of course, the upcoming book will also fulfill this goal.
In two weeks, he will his release his video project with new poems on YouTube. Please see the video for a preview.
Exume, elated, talked about his excitement for upcoming reactions for his book.
"I am not afraid," he said, welcoming both positive and negative feedbacks. "I do it because I love writing. I have no commitment to writing. I am very excited for 2014."

Friday, January 10, 2014

The year is still young

The year is still young. We are just ending week two of January. So go ahead! Set your goals and get inspired to make 2014 a year to remember:

5 tips for setting goals
In this YouTube video, Jennifer Hain lays out 5 steps in achieving your goal for this year. She advises you to set one goal to not stretch yourselves thin and get discouraged. You can add more goals as things happen organically.

While you're at it, make sure to watch the movie "Shadows in the Sun," which was released in 2005, starring Harvey Keitel, Joshua Jackson and Claire Forlani. The inspiring movie embodies mentorship and striving and believing in your talent.

Another great movie to watch is "Queen to Play," starring Kevin Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire. All I can say about this movie is when you wake up the next day thinking about the moral of the story, you know you've watched a great movie.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Article on Aton

 
Click here to read an interview of Aton with Kreyolicious, in which he
promotes his comic book on the first Haitian Superhero. Make sure to read our article on the superhero, who is no longer named Aton: The Demi God, but Djatawo. The name Djatawo is made of two names Jah, which is a biblical name for God, and Tao, which means path from the Chinese religious tradition Taoism.