Noel Quiñones is an AfroBoricua educator, writer, and performer born and raised in the Bronx. He has received fellowships from Poets House, CantoMundo, and the Watering Hole, and his work is forthcoming or published in the Latin American Review, Hot Metal Bridge, Kweli Journal, Pilgrimage Press, & elsewhere. In addition, his poetry will be included in the forthcoming collection of AfroLatinx Poets published by Arte Publico Press in the Spring. His performances have been showcased on Huffington Post, Vibe, Button Poetry, Latina Magazine, Medium, & elsewhere. Most recently he is the founder of Project X, a Bronx based arts organization providing the borough with open mics, workshops, community programming, and the Bronx's own Slam Series to produce its first all Latinx Slam Team. Visit him @NQNino322.Why I Write: Noel Quiñones
In his foreword to the book Nuyorican Poetry, an Anthology, Miguel Algarín states, “The Nuyorican poet is responsible for creating newness. The newness needs words, words never heard before or used before. He has to invent a new language, a new tradition of communication.” Growing up in the Bronx, I was exposed to proof that in order to build newness you must first break binaries. I heard the ways Hip-Hop and Salsa danced with each other, I watched as diverse communities came together to praise the same god, and I stood in awe as my father came out as a gay man to my family. All of this was possible in the Bronx and so I write to remix and reclaim my lived experience and the stories of my family and my ancestors.
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