Latinos in Literature -- powerHouse Arena! - March 5th 2009

The powerHouse Arena is pleased to present -

Latinos in Literature
Featuring:

Joe Conzo
Kim Osorio
Linda Nieves-Powell
Ivan Sanchez
Daniel Serrano
DJ Disco Wiz

Moderated by John Garcia

Thursday, March 5, 2009, 7-9PM
The powerHouse Arena
37 Main Street, Brooklyn
For more information: (718) 666-3049
RSVP: rsvp@powerhousearena.com

As Latino literature begins to find its rightful place on the bookshelves, a fresh new crop of Nuyorican authors is emerging as the trailblazers of an exciting new movement in literature.

Daniel Serrano’s Gunmetal Black has been called a new-age Carlito's Way. Joe Conzo’s visual documentation in Born in the Bronx has unlocked a time and place only captured by his lens. Linda Nieves-Powell has taken Latina Lit to a nostalgic place with her novel, Free Style, while Kim Osorio told an empowering tale of a woman in the male dominated world of Hip Hop in her tell all, Straight From the Source. Ivan Sanchez’s, Next Stop: Growing up Wild-Style in the Bronx, brutally honest memoir has been compared to Piri Thomas’ Down These Mean Streets, and his second offering, It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, co-authored with Luis Cedeño, is the first ever memoir about a Latino pioneer in Hip Hop.

Now for the first time ever, The powerHouse Arena brings all of these dynamic speakers together under one roof to read excerpts of their work, as well as to discuss how hard it was for them to break into the literary world and where they plan to go next now that the doors are open. They will also discuss what they believe the future of Latino Literature to be.

The panel discussion will be moderated by John Garcia who has been a reporter and editor in all forms of media for over 23 years.

Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop by Joe Conzo
Hip hop first became a part of the mainstream music industry in the early 1980s, when major record labels
released albums from such accessible groups as Run DMC and the Sugarhill Gang. But the true origins of one of the most powerful pop-cultural influences of the 20th century are in the spontaneous, progressive musical cultures that grew out of tough neighborhoods in the Bronx of the 1970s. Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop is a striking anthology of the baby steps of hip hop that not only captures the emergence of a burgeoning culture but also the fashion and character of the surrounding community.

Joe Conzo grew up in the Bronx and is considered hip-hop’s first photographer. His work has appeared on VH-1 and in the New York Times, VIBE, and Esquire, among other numerous books and exhibits.

Straight from the Source:
An Expose from the Former Editor in Chief of the Hip-Hop Bible by Kim Osorio
Kim Osorio had a front-row seat for the biggest beefs, battles, and blow-ups in hip-hop. As the first female editor-in-chief of The Source, she had come up. From her corner office, Kim got the goods on hip-hop's hottest names: Jay-Z, Nas, 50 Cent, Lil' Kim. She developed close—sometimes intimate—relationships with the artists she exposed to the public. But The Source couldn't hide its own dirty laundry for long. In a culture dominated by men, Kim rose to the top, and after years in the magazine's pressure cooker, she hit "send" on a two-sentence e-mail that would thrust her from the sidelines of the scandalous world she reported on to the center of one of the most explosive scandals in hip-hop history.

Kim Osorio, a native of the Bronx, New York, was the first female editor-in-chief of The Source magazine. She led the publication to some of its highest-selling issues ever before suing for sexual harassment. She lives in New Jersey with her fiancé and two daughters.

Free Style by Linda Nieves-Powell
Funny, intelligent, and, above all, relevant, Free Style is an inspiring novel about two thirty-something married moms—one who is separated and the other whose marriage is hanging on by a thread. They decide to escape their to-do lists to revisit their past at Club 90, a nightclub they frequented in the early nineties. There they meet up with old friends and lost loves and dance their troubles away to Lisa Lisa and C&C Music Factory. But when they’re hit with a shocking dose of reality, they must decide whether to stay in the past or move on.

Linda Nieves-Powell is the writer/director/producer of the off-Broadway hit Yo Soy Latina! as well as the “New Soul Latina Show” and “Jose Can Speak.” She was named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine, one of the Groundbreaking Latinas of 2006 by Catalina magazine, and one of the Top 100 Latinas by El Diario. Her nonfiction has appeared in national periodicals, including Latina magazine, Estylo magazine, and Latino Impact Entertainment News. She’s also appeared on a myriad of television programs, including Today, PBS City Arts, Good Day New York, Urban Latino TV, and Telemundo News.

Next Stop: Growing up Wild-Style in the Bronx by Ivan Sanchez
Ivan Sanchez takes readers on a wild train ride beyond the safety of New York City’s news headlines into the heart of the Bronx, while traveling back in time to his youth during the late ’80s and early ’90s. From one stop to the next, this memoir follows Sanchez and his crew of friends on their search for identity and an escape from poverty “on the come up” in a stark world where street wars and all-night symphonies of crime and drug-fueled mayhem were as routine as the #4 train.

Ivan Sanchez is the author of Next Stop: Growing up Wild-Style in the Bronx (Touchstone, 2008) and co-author of It’s Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop’s First Latino DJ (powerHouse Books, 2009). He was awarded the National Novel honors for his first fiction offering, The Murder Exchange in 2004. His freelance work has appeared in the NY Daily News, the Virginian-Pilot and on EGRadioonline.com, SiTV.com, and HipHopGame.com. Currently, Sanchez is developing a TV series based on Next Stop, in addition to his work as an anti-gang youth advocate and motivational speaker. Previously, he has lectured at schools in the South Bronx and Chicago and Princeton and Harvard Universities.

Gunmental Black by Daniel Serrano
As a child, Eddie Santiago grows up on the mean streets of his Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago, where he witnesses his father's murder. Now in his thirties, after serving ten years in a state penitentiary, Eddie is coming home. With prison behind him, Eddie plans to seek refuge in Miami Beach. But new trouble begins when Eddie and his old friend/gangster Little Tony are pulled over by two cops, who rob Eddie of his money belt, which contains his life savings. Convinced it was a set-up, Eddie is determined to recover what is rightfully his, all the while trying to reform his childhood friend.

Daniel Serrano was born in Brooklyn and raised in Chicago. The eldest of three Puerto Rican boys raised by a single-parent mom, Serrano witnessed gangs, crime, drugs, poverty, even murder as his family lived the urban Latino struggle. In his mid-twenties, he enrolled in the Weekend Program at Shimer College and studied the classics while working as a laborer. He went on to earn a law degree at St. John’s University. As an attorney, Serrano has spent the bulk of his career in New York City representing politicians and alleged criminals. Gunmetal Black, his first novel, was named Best Thriller of 2008 by Latinidad. His next novel, Boogiedown, a murder mystery will be published in Spring 2010.

It’s Just Begun by Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeño
Half-Cuban, half-Puerto Rican, Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeño is 100 percent Boogie Down Bronx. Born in the ’60s, Wiz struggled in a turbulent and violent relationship with his alcoholic father while trying to protect his mother who was suffering from breast cancer. Raised in the ’70s, Wiz learned the code of the streets while hustling with his crew, the East Side Boys. In 1975, Wiz discovered salvation when he hooked up with the legendary Grandmaster Caz to form the Mighty Force Crew, waging some of the biggest DJ battles in the Bronx during hip hop’s earliest years. Featuring over 50 never-before-seen photos, It’s Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop’s First Latino DJ is a gritty and gripping tale of one man’s struggles to not only survive, but to triumph over adversity and abuse that will make your blood run cold. By conquering unimaginable obstacles, Wiz offers inspiration to anyone who has ever wondered, “Why me?”

Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeño, The first Latino hip hop DJ, is credited for being the first DJ to make a "mixed plate" in 1977 along with his childhood best friend Grandmaster Caz, combining sound bites, special effects, and paused beats. In the years since, Wiz has been an influential force in educating the world about the early years of hip-hop. Wiz was a major contributor in the opening of the Experience Music Project in Seattle in 2000, and was instrumental in the making of Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn's critically acclaimed Yes Yes Y'all (Da Capo Press, 2002). His first book, It’s Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop’s First Latino DJ, co-written with Ivan Sanchez will be released with (Miss Rosen Editions/powerHouse Books) in June 2009. Wiz was also featured in the Emmy-nominated VH1 Rock Doc NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell, and is the creator and founder of the Hip-Hop Meets Spoken Wordz series an annual event that unites emerging Latino talent with Old School artists, while collecting food and clothing for homeless Bronx residents. DJ Disco Wiz is also the weekly host of the Hip Hop Chronicles on Urban Latino Radio.

Moderator John Garcia

Moderator John Garcia is a professional media manager, reporter, and editor in new media, print, and broadcast for more than 23 years. He helped to create Hispanic Business Today for NBC, served as executive producer for Today in New York, and helped launch MSNBC, SNAP and IN. He served as VP, Interactive Content and Programming, NBC Television Stations Division, and as Integration Leader for NBC/Telemundo. Garcia is presently director of development and communications for Latino Justice PRLDEF, the premiere Latino civil rights organization in the country. His work has appeared in the Miami Herald, Miami News, New York Daily News, Gannett Newspapers and Vista Magazine. He served as Director of Digital Journalism at New York University, is a native of New York City’s Lower East Side, and a graduate of Hunter College. He is the author of Hispanic Magazine, a book about magazine publishing, and is a former National Racquetball Champion and airplane pilot.

For more information contact Viviana Morizet, viviana@powerHouseBooks.com