Paolo Javier’s musical collaboration with Listening Center (aka David Mason) will appear as a limited edition book, Ur’lyeh, and cassette, Aklopolis, published by Flugschriften in spring 2016. The former Queens Poet Laureate (2010-14), he is the author of four full-length collections of poetry, including Court of the Dragon (Nightboat Books, 2015), and lives with his family in Sunnyside, Queens.
Native New Yorker and Queens-born and -bred, Maria Lisella is the sixth winner in the competition for Queens Poet Laureate 2015-2018 and the first Italian American to win that competition. She is the author of the collection Thieves in the Family (NYQ Books), and two chapbooks (Amore on Hope Street, from Finishing Line Press, and Two Naked Feet, from Poets Wear Prada). She co-curates the Italian American Writers Association’s readings and is a charter member of Brevitas. She is an award-winning travel writer and editor who is currently USA TODAY’s New York expert.