Local News from Marbletown, Rochester, & Rosendale
This event will be held, 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Rosendale Theatre, 408 Main St., Rosendale. The International Writers Festival will feature readings from the works of writers born in China, India, Africa, Russia, Belarus, and the Bahamas. Sponsored by Inquiring Minds Bookstore of New Paltz, the festival will be an exciting mélange of literary flavors from around the world, tasting samples from some exemplary foreign writers. The writers are Jai Chakrabarti (India), Laura Shaine Cunningham (Belarus), Gwen Namainga Jones (Zambia), Chiu Yin (China), Margarita (Mourka) Meyendorff (Russia/Estonia), and Christopher Rabley (the Bahamas, U.K.) The festival is the fourth program in the Prosendale Series, which highlights literary events at the theatre. Joyce Sprafkin produces Prosendale, and the festival is co-produced and conceived by Laura Shaine Cunningham. Few people have traveled to all of the countries represented in this festival. No passports are required to experience the diversity of voices from near and far.
Chakrabarti is the author of two current books published by Alfred A. Knopf, “A Play for the End of the World” and a story collection, “A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness.” Chakrabarti has won many awards, including “The Jewish Book Council’s Debut Novel,” and his stories have been published in many lauded anthologies and literary journals, including Ploughshares, A Public Space, Guernica, and Conjunctions.
Cunningham will be reading her grandfather Yosef Weiss’s much-anthologized story, originally published in Minsk, Belarus. She is the author of nine books, including the memoirs, “Sleeping Arrangements” and “A Place in the Country,” both excerpted in The New Yorker and the New York Times. Cunningham is the author of the forthcoming memoir, “Forbidden Russia.”
Jones was born in Zambia and is a member of the Ila Tribal Council in Zambia and, in collaboration with Tribal Chiefs, created a Trust tasked with tribal empowerment and livelihood programs to safeguard the community in tribal-corporate relations. Her stories have been published in journals such as Mount Hope, Courtship of Winds, and Crack the Spine Literary Magazine. She is the author of the forthcoming novel, “Three Miles Too Far,” the story of an African mother and daughter.
Meyendorff aka Mourka as she is known in more familiar circles, is an award-winning author of two published books, her memoir entitled, “DP: Displaced Person” which is being translated into Russian for publication in Russia, and an anthology of 30 short stories entitled, “Flipping the Bird.” The daughter of a Russian Baron, she was born displaced in a refugee camp in Germany, far from the opulence of Imperial Russia that was her birthright. A series of wars destroyed this privileged existence, and Mourka’s life became a series of extraordinary moves. She has performed as an actress, dancer, musician, and storyteller at venues throughout the United States and in Europe. Currently, she is writing her third book entitled, “The Magic Bus” about her and her husband’s adventures in their 1991 VW Pop Up Westfalia camper.
Rabley was born and raised in the Bahamas, U.K., and has been published in the Bahamas Tribune and in literary quarterlies. He is also the author of the forthcoming novel, “The Secret Sleeps Beside Me.”
Yin is the author of two prize-winning books about Tuxedo Park. Her stories have been published in literary journals such as The Southampton Review. She is also the author of the forthcoming novel, “Shanghai Tango.”
Jasmine Cunningham is a photographer, designer, and actor.
Nicole Quinn is an actor, director, and writer. She is known for her film, “Chasing Daylight,” starring Melissa Leo and David Strathairn. Her fiction series, “The Goldstone Girls” is popular, and she recently appeared on stage at Maverick Concerts.
There will be a brief Q&A after the readings, and books will be available for signing.
Admission is $12/$10 members. For more info, visit rosendaletheatre.org or call 845-658-8989.
