How can we increase the number of writers, editors, and publishers of color in publishing? How do we get to a place where published doesn't mean compromised? 💭

Join VONA on Thursday (6/30) at 5:30pm EST — Angela "Angy" Abreu, Roberto Carlos Garcia, and Ayesha Pande are answering these questions and discussing pathways to publishing, marketing, negotiation, and advocacy for BIPOC authors.

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Angela "Angy" Abreu is a Dominican-American writer, founder, and creative director of Dominican Writers Association. A 501 c3 non-profit organization dedicated to highlighting and promoting the works of Dominican- American authors. Under DWA, Angy’s mission includes coaching emerging writers who wish to become published authors (traditionally or non-traditionally) by providing them with the tools and resources they need to continue developing their craft with hopes that they too become a part of the Dominican literary canon.

Roberto Carlos Garcia writes extensively about the Afro-Latinx and Afro-Diasporic experience, and his work has been published widely. He is the author of five books. Four poetry collections: Melancolía (Cervena Barva Press, 2016), black / Maybe: An Afro Lyric (Willow Books, 2018), [Elegies] (FlowerSong Press, 2020), and the forthcoming What Can I Tell You: The Selected Poems of Roberto Carlos Garcia(Flowersong Press, 2023). And one essay collection, Traveling Freely, forthcoming in 2023 from Northwestern University Press. Roberto is the founder of Get Fresh Books Publishing, a literary nonprofit.

Ayesha Pande is an acclaimed Harlem-based literary agency known for successfully launching award-winning, bestselling authors, scholars, and emerging writers. Ayesha founded APL in 2007. Before becoming an agent she held several editorial positions, including most recently as a senior editor at Farrar Straus and Giroux. She is on the board of Art Omi and the AALA (Association of American Literary Agents) where she founded the Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and helped launch the non-profit Literary Agents of Change. Her client roster includes Ibram X. Kendi, Patricia Engel, Danielle Evans, Matthew Salesses and Lisa Ko. She is drawn to distinctive voices with a compelling point of view and memorable characters. Ayesha's greatest joy is in finding and launching new literary voices.

Tickets are pay what you wish (suggested donation $10)