Written by Léna Roy, Director of Teen Programs
Saturday, November 22nd, 2025 marked Writopia and the Nuyorican’s new partnership with Yesi’s Book Store and Gift Shop, where we had our first Teen Open Mic since July.
Under the Metro North train line in Spanish Harlem, Yesi’s is part of a community space called La Marqueta, which has different kiosks of food and art. Paul from the Nuyorican and the team at La Marqueta helped with setting up in a spotlit corner of the main space while CP’s Sonali and Anna, our teen emcees, passed out index cards with prompts for folks to write a line if they felt moved to add to our group poem. Sonali and Anna invited many readers to the stage, some of them for the first time!
Other Writopians who stunned us with their performances were Angie Rubenstein, Sophia Colon, Advaith Banigandlapati, and Celi Flores. We even had teen Teal Meyers perform an original song which transported us all to another space and time. Sharjah M’Bodhi, a high school senior, spoke passionately about her online magazine called Ubuntu Harlem, which celebrates works from teens of color in Harlem. We closed with Sonali and Anna reading the group poem, and then socializing.
We are thrilled to announce that the next Open Mic at La Marqueta will be on Saturday, January 24th, 2026, at 4 PM, so mark your calendars!