USpeak: Open Verse and Story Performance Series Continues

More than 50 students arrived at the Oasis Café Deli on Sept. 4 for the first installment of USpeak, the open mic, story performance and poetry series that featured young adult novelist and UM Alum, Crissa-Jean Chappell.

Audience members are also invited to step up and share their poems, stories and music at the open mic. But whether you're there to perform or to listen, USpeak offers an enjoyable evening of fiction, poetry and music.

The series continues on Oct. 2nd, with Adrian Castro, a poet, performer, and interdisciplinary artist. Born in Miami, Castro is known for his rhythmic Afro-Latino style in which he writes and performs. Articulating the search for a cohesive Afro-Caribbean-American identity, Castro honors myth on one hand and history on the other. He addresses the migratory experience from Africa to the Caribbean to North America, and the eventual clash of cultures. He is the author of Cantos to Blood & Honey,(Coffee House Press), Wise Fish: Tales in 6/8 Time,(Coffee House Press,, and has been published in many literary anthologies.

USpeak is sponsored, in part, by the Citizen's Board and UM's Auxiliary Services. The event is free and open to the public. For directions and/or more information, please call 305-284-2988 or visit our Web site at www.as.miami.edu/english/creativewriting

The series continues on November 6 (Homecoming), December 4, January 29, 2010, February 26, 2010, March 26th, 2010 and April 30th, 2010.

September 1, 2009