Manteca! an Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets by Melissa Castillo Planas

Her most recent scholarly book project, with Rutgers University Press’ new Global Race and Media series (March 2020), A Mexican State of Mind: New York City and the New Borderlands of Culture, examines the creative worlds and cultural productions of Mexican migrants in New York City. She is the author of the poetry collection Coatlicue Eats the Apple, editor of the anthology, ¡Manteca!: An Anthology of Poets, co-editor of La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidades and co-author of the novel, Pure Bronx. Melissa Castillo Planas is an Associate Professor of English at Lehman College in the Bronx, NY and the CUNY Graduate Center PhD program in English specializing in Latinx Literature and Culture. Frank works at New Settlement in The Bronx, and volunteers as a creative writing workshop leader with the NY Writers Coalition and the Creative Center at University Settlement. Frank’s short stories have won awards from Pen Parentis (2011), the Sustainable Arts Foundation (2013) and the Rose Warner Prize for Fiction (2021). Downlanders, a novel following 5 transients into a fictional wilderness, is forthcoming by Flexible Press in November 2023. During this time Shir’s band was signed to BMG’s mammoth publishing house and record label and toured the United States and abroad for the next 8 years playing festivals and sharing the stage with artists such as The Roots, Placebo, Chris Isaak, Lucius, Of Montreal, Crystal Castles and more.įrank Haberle’s novel-in-stories, Shufflers, about minimum wage workers during the Reagan era, was published in September 2021 by Flexible Press ( ).

Shir moved to NYC in 2008 with her duo Hank & Cupcakes which quickly gained local and national attention appearing in publications such as the New York Post, MTV.com, Huffington Post, Vogue Italy, Rolling Stone Russia. In 2006 Shir moved to Havana, Cuba enriching her musical landscape by studying Cuban music and drums with world renown jazz musicians, she then returned to Israel to release her 2nd album. Upon completion, Shir went on to study at the prestigious ‘Rimon School of Contemporary Music and Jazz’ in 2003, where she won several awards and released her debut album which was produced by one of the top producers in Israel, Moshe Levi, and hailed by the press. After extensive auditioning Shir was one of few to be accepted into the sought after entertainment units in the IDF and found herself touring the country as a singer and drummer for the next two years as her mandatory military service. Readings by: Frank Haberle, Melissa Castillo Planas, Andrea Ruggirello, and Tariq Shah Music by: Sagit Shir (Hank & Cupcakes)īorn and raised back and forth from Israel and Australia, Sagit Shir started her professional music career early at the age of 18.

Manteca! an Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets by Melissa Castillo Planas