Category: Uncategorized

Prom Queens Anthology!

Kelly Jean

No, YOU Tell It!, in partnership with Poets of Queens, is proud to announce the forthcoming anthology, Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers, coming in the spring of 2026. 

Prom Queens team. Photo credit Sachyn Mital.

Supported, in part, by a Queens Art Fund: New Work Grant, the anthology stems from a series of Prom Queens: Prom Story and Portrait Trading Workshops held around Queens in May and June of 2025.

During these free, generative workshops, participants were invited to share their prom story through a series of written and visual prompts provided by Zach Rothman-Hicks (Gabbing with Gays) and me.

I also read from my memoir After After Prom, which served as the inspiration for the Prom Queens workshops and anthology.

Reading from After After Prom. Photo credit Sachyn Mital.

Sharing stories about going or not going to prom allows us to find commonalities within each other’s unique cultures and identities. This anthology aims to help people, including future prom-goers, celebrate each other’s prom stories instead of feeling pressured to live up to what pop culture has taught us prom is supposed to look like.

What better place to give voice to a diverse range of prom stories than The World’s Borough!

Learn more about the anthology here.

No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” Tonight

Kelly Jean

Tonight! No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” is proud to be an official 2025 Bookend Event as part of the Brooklyn Book Festival, now celebrating its 20th Anniversary.

Show program here.

Bookend events––in person in all five boroughs and online––run from September 14th through 22nd, and are a vital part of the Brooklyn Book Festival’s mission to present programming that is hip, smart, diverse, and inclusive for NYC and beyond. We hope you can join us this weekend in Downtown Brooklyn––the Brooklyn Book Festival Children’s Day is Saturday, from 10am-4pm, and the Festival Day & Literary Marketplace is on Sunday, from 10am-6pm. All events are free! Pick up a Festival guide, or visit brooklynbookfestival.org for more info. 

Save the Date: No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” 9/17

Kelly Jean

Save the date for our next No, YOU Tell It! show: 9/17. This is going to be a super fun one!

  • No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” is AN OFFICIAL 2025 BOOKEND EVENT, part of a week of literary events across all five boroughs leading up to the 20th anniversary of the Brooklyn Book Festival.
  • YES! The show is in Queens at Grove 34 in Astoria and features contributors to our forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers anthology from Poets of Queens.
  • Our own Tim Lindner is stepping up as a storyteller for the first time!
  • NYTI Alums Olena Jennings and A. King McCarty are creating original artwork.
  • I’m reading from my memoir After After Prom.

Plus, other PROM QUEENS surprises! Save the date and see you in September.

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THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2025 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT.

This project is made possible (in part) with public funds from the
Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

This organization is funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation
administered by Flushing Town Hall

Share Your Prom Story!

Kelly Jean

👑✨ PROM QUEENS WORKSHOP ✨👑
Saturday, June 21 at 2 PM
📍 Broadway Library – Small Auditorium (40-20 Broadway, Queens)

Free! RSVP HERE.

What’s your prom story—or what did you do instead?
Join us for a creative writing workshop where you’ll:
✍️ Write your own prom story with prompts from me and Zach Rothman-Hicks.
🎨 Trade portraits with a partner using transparency tracing and storytelling
📖 Hear a reading from my memoir “After After Prom”
📚 Have a chance to be published in the Prom Queens anthology from Poets of Queens!

Click here for more information on the Prom Queens workshops and anthology.

This project is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

2025 QAF Recipient!

Kelly Jean

I’m excited to announce that I’m a 2025 Queens Arts Fund recipient!

Share your prom story and submit to the forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers anthology from Poets of Queens. Learn more and submit here.

This project-based grant will enable me to bring a series of Prom Queens: Prom Story and Portrait Trading Workshops to Astoria, Jackson Heights, and more in May and June.

Click here to learn more and sign up for a workshop.

I will also read from my memoir-in-progress, After After Prom, at the workshops.

The Prom Queens workshops and anthology aim to give voice to a diverse range of prom poems and stories instead of the prom myth polished by pop culture.

Thank you to New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs for helping to support this work. Click here for the full 2025 Queens Arts Fund award announcement.

Be sure to follow #QAF2025 for details on when and where you can experience the arts in Queens this calendar year!

No, YOU Tell It! “My Place” on May 28

Kelly Jean


Tickets are available for our team-up show with Queens Memory and the Greater Astoria Historical Society!

No, YOU Tell It! “My Place” explores the personal stories behind our shared Queens spaces. Purchase tickets here.  

At our May 3 workshop, the four No, YOU Tell It! storytellers will interact with the Queens Name Explorer—a digital map developed by Queens Memory—to find “My Place” in Queens.

Feel free to come join in on the fun! The free May 3 workshop at the Queens Public Library at Broadway in Astoria is open to all!

On May 28, come hear the four NYTI storytellers trade true tales inspired by the historical significance behind the people’s names that grace Queens streets, parks, monuments, and more. 

Plus, artwork by Ellen Stedfeld (ellesaurarts.com) and story trivia for fun prizes!

Visit noyoutellit.com and follow @noyoutellit to learn about the series and listen to our podcast.

Come Write With Us!

Kelly Jean

What’s your Queens story?

Join me and the No, YOU Tell It! creative team on May 3 for a free writing workshop to discover and trade the personal stories behind our shared public places.

Interact with Queens Name Explorer, an interactive digital map developed by Queens Memory, to learn the historical significance behind the people’s names that grace Queens streets, parks, monuments, and more. Learn more and register here.

Plus, artwork by Ellen Stedfeld and a special presentation from Bob Singleton of the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

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This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

This organization is funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation administered by Flushing Town Hall.

Big News! Two Grants!!

Kelly Jean

Guess what? My switched-up storytelling series No, YOU Tell It! has received not one but TWO grants from Flushing Town Hall in support of our Queens programming – the 2025 GO Queens Grant and the Queens Community Arts Grant!

With the support of these grants, we are partnering with the Greater Astoria Historical Society and Queens Memory to produce writing workshops and shows where community participants and NYTI storytellers can engage with Queens history to inspire and experience each other’s true tales.

Register here for our May 3 “My Place in Queens” free workshop at the Queens Public Library at Broadway in Astoria.