Got literary skills? Here’s the chance to make them soar.
The Lewis Latimer House Museum is currently accepting applications for its Spring 2025 Memoir and Autobiographical Writing Workshop series.
The program’s themes are race and immigration, and the facilitator is Abeer Hoque. Born in Nigeria, Hoque is a writer, photographer, editor, and educator. In 2016, HarperCollins India published her memoir Olive Witch. It was released in the U.S. by Harper 360 in 2017. (Click here to learn more about her books.)
Writers of all experience and talent levels are encouraged to apply. The only requirement is to have a connection to Queens. Participants will learn how to find their voices, develop characters, create context and backdrop, and hone their narratives. All pieces will be reviewed three times during the workshop, and Hoque promises that all will graduate with a refined, voice-driven piece of personal writing.
Applications are due on Jan. 13, 2025, and the winners will be notified by Jan. 27. An in-person meet-up is on Saturday, Feb. 8, from noon to 1 pm. The virtual sessions are then from 2 pm to 4:30 pm on six Saturdays: March 8, March 22, April 5, April 19, May 3, and May 17. The course ends with a public reading on Saturday, May 31, from 2 pm to 4 pm.
The Latimer House is located at 34-41 137th St. in Flushing. Its namesake was a true Renaissance man, a self-taught master draftsman, an expert on patent law, a poet, an inventor, and a painter. He also worked with Alexander Graham Bell on the telephone and Thomas A. Edison on the lightbulb.
The son of fugitive slaves, Latimer (1848–1928) was born in Massachusetts, but eventually settled in a wood-framed, two-story Flushing residence, which features Queen Anne style architecture. It remained in his family until 1963, when it became a nonprofit museum dedicated to calling attention to the contributions to science and technology that Latimer and other African-Americans have made over the centuries.
Currently, the museum hosts STEAM educational programs, exhibitions, and public programs in poetry, arts, technology, and social justice. Hoque has offered her Memoir and Autobiographical Writing series via Latimer House periodically since 2019.
Top image: Unsplash; bottom image: Josh Steinbauer