2023 Writer's Salon Workshops Series

Through facilitating a space of being present in our bodies, this workshop is a space where writers will write their emotions with abandon. Often, literature can be a space of stiffness as the pressure of perfectionism looms. This is what often results in what artists know as "writer's block." As BIPOC, the spontaneity of music and classic rhythms like jazz can become a space of release to that pressure, to remember imperfection and looseness is needed in order to arrive at writing that feels elevated.

About the facilitator: Amanda Alcántara, also known by her stage name Ama Rey, is a Caribbean singer, writer, and voice actor. Ama identifies as integrative writer, using music, poetry and essays as storytelling tools that liberate the pen. She is the author of Chula and How I Became a Mermaid. Her work has been featured in the anthology “Latinas: Struggles & Protests in 21st Century USA,” the poetry anthology “LatiNext,” Rolling Stone, The Huffington Post, Latino USA, Remezcla, and other publications. In 2021, Alcántara began voicing audiobooks in English and Spanish, starting with providing the voiceover for the Spanish translation of The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman. She recently won an Earphones award for her narration of Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa by Julian Randall. In April 2023, she released her first single "Agua Que Sana" a dembow song that honors water and healing.