By Anil Bedasie
In collaboration with the Office of Adult and Continuing Education and the Queens Book Fair and Literary Festival, the Richmond Hill branch of the Queens Public Library hosted aliterary event on Saturday August 3rd themed Prose, Poetry and Passion, celebrating the power of literature.
The Queens Book Fair Series is the brainchild of Dr Dhanpaul Narine, and started in the summer of 2018. It has showcased many immigrant trailblazers and their accomplishments, as well as the literary works of the Caribbean community in themed events.
I have always opined that our community needs more of these types of events, and thus appeal to representatives and leaders alike to spearhead them in other NYC boroughs and Long Islandto attract more participants and supporters. Notably, we have numerous events of other nature, specifically summer camp programs, musical and variety shows, pageantry shows, culinarycompetitions and others, which hundreds of people support throughout the year.
This event was well attended, and was moderated by Guyana’s UN Representative Ambassador, Trishala Simantini Persaud.The event featured poems, speeches, tributes, recitals, and recognition award presentations.
Councilwoman Lynn Schulmann of District 29 in Queens graced the occasion along with Queens Community Board 9 representative Sherry Algredo. Special awards were conferred to Dr Keith Proctor, a world acclaimed Guyanese musician, and Indian classical artistic dancer and instructor Davina Singh, who is well known in the community. These citations were conferredfrom the organizing entity, namely The Queens Book Fair, and elected officials from the community, city, state, and federal levels.
Dr Mirza Rahman, the founder of the Guyana Diaspora Charity,which is a US based Section 501(C) humanization organization with multiple objectives but whose primary one is to assist Guyanese citizens in the healthcare realm, provided a summary update on the team’s accomplishments, status, needs, and plans.
Dr Ravi Dev, the Editor of one of Guyana’s dailies, The Guyana Times, made a speech on poems, current events, and Guyana’s proud heritage.
Shreya Bedasie, a regular participant of the Queens Book Fair Series, presented a compelling and passionate speech on having healthy habits for wellness at an early age to achieve longevityin life.
Dr Sharla Madho-Khargi, a NYS Clinical Psychologist,presented her thoughts on the importance of literacy and the power of learning and mental health, as well as reflections of growing up in Guyana.
Next, the former Ambassador of Grenada to the UN, Eugene M. Pursoo spoke on two of his books, namely “Laabe” and “Voices,” focusing on the cultural impact of 180 years of western influence in Grenada.
Poet Haimnauth Ramkirath, originally from Ocean View Uitvlugt in Guyana, read four poems from his 2024 book titled,“Poems for Guyana’s youth.” His poems centered on some of his wonderful experiences, and the people who brought fun and laughter to his boyhood and youthful years.
Young and talented classical dancer, Rani Persaud, delivered a short explanation of what classical dance is. Poems were read by Arun Whyte and Lionel Narine (“Leisure” a W. H. Davies poem).
International dance artist Deeraj Guyaram reflected on his fiftyyears as a performing artist and announced his retirement at the end of 2024.
Karissa Jagbeer recited a poem named “The American Dream,”followed by Ben Nazir, who recited a poem by Kahlil Gibran titled “Friendship.” Additional poems were presented by Khanaa(Rabindranath Tagore), Gelissa Blair and Samantha Blair (Emily Dickenson and Dhanpaul Narine).
A powerful and impactful speech presentation was delivered by Veena Bedasie who is a regular presenter of the Queens Book Fair since 2018. She focused on passion, highlighting the immigrant community’s goals in achieving the American Dream. She further explained how immigrants are grouped as living their passion in their daily job, suppressing their passion for an unrelated career, and finally, juggling both a real job and enjoying their passion as a hobby or part time job.
The final poems by Cheryl (Rabindranath Tagore) and Rose October, a social worker recited a Martin Carter poem called “This is the dark time, my love”. Arianna Vee, who was a contestant in the Guyana Skeldon Beauty pageant recently, was also acknowledged.
It should be noted that these types of events have benefits for both the community and the participants. Attendees may be familiar with friends and family who possess artistic talents in some literary form as an author or a poet, and just need a platform to showcase their works to the world.
It can also make the attendees get involved in contributing to the community, either as a representative or supporter. And finally, it can also allow you to spread the word to others to get involvedin literacy efforts at an early age.
The vote of thanks was done by yours truly. The next event in the Queens Book Fair series will be held in November this year.Please come out and support these events as 2025 will have more of these with different themes.
