In November 2009, we launched a PenTales community writing program in partnership with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.
With the help of a smart, passionate team of PenTales Fellows from top universities in the New York City area, we teach creative writing to after-school kids, teens, and adults throughout the City. Class participants are encouraged to explore their creative voices and read works aloud.
PenTales classes are based out of public recreation centers in Manhattan, Crown Heights Brooklyn, the South Bronx, and Queens.
The PenTales community writing program aims to promote literacy and a sense of community by encouraging people from all walks of life to share original stories with one another.
Check out the first PenTales Storybook, featuring writing from our PenTales students across NYC here: download
Meet the PenTales Fellows! They teach the weekly creative writing and storytelling classes.
Abby Bernstein recently graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College, where she majored in English and Music. While in college, Abby received the New York Times James B. Reston Portfolio for Excellence Award and was also the winner of Women’s Public Voices, a writing competition among the remaining Seven Sister colleges. As both a freelance writer and singer-songwriter, Abby believes in the power of storytelling. She has written for various publications and feminist blogs, and performs her music regularly around New York City.
Danielle Blau’s poems, short stories, and articles have appeared or are forthcoming in The Atlantic online, Black Clock, The L Magazine, and multiple issues of Unsaid, among other publications. Danielle graduated from Brown University in 2007 with a BA in philosophy, and has begun work on her MFA in poetry this year at NYU’s Creative Writing Program. She lives in Brooklyn.
Katherine J. Chen is a sophomore at Princeton University, where she majors in English with a certificate in Creative Writing. Katherine is working on her second book, a memoir recounting her father’s early life in Taiwan, which she hopes to finish before the end of the year. She is inspired by writers like J.M. Coetzee and Joyce Carol Oates, who are able to maintain a rigorous and disciplined writing schedule every single day. Katherine is currently working as a freelance writer and editorial intern for a variety of print and online magazines.
Annalise Hagen loved stories ever since she memorized an abridged version of Peter Pan, tricking her parents into thinking she could read at the age of three. Many books and scribbled stories later, she is currently a student at NYU Gallatin, designing her own major around creative writing, Spanish, and community organization.
Joan Kanarkiewicz is a sophomore at NYU, majoring in Language in Mind (a combination of Psychology, Linguistics, and Philosophy). When she isn’t studying, she is running, reading, or photographing the world around her. Joan is from middle-of-the-woods upstate New York, and love trees as much as she does the metal forest that is the city.
Kevin Kuo was raised in New York City, and has always been fascinated by the rich and vibrant communities present in every corner of the city. During his years as a student at Stanford University, he spent months studying abroad in a variety of countries including China, Japan, and Germany. Since graduation, he has worked as a news reporter, tutor, and videographer while pursuing his passion for filmmaking. Excited by the joy of self-discovery and creativity, Kevin loves helping others bring to life the stories lying within.
Nellie Fleischner lives and works in Brooklyn, New York where she makes paintings, costumes, props, and clothing, and an occasional performance piece as seen in this picture. She loves listening to peoples’ stories and is glad to a part of the pentales team.
Jonathan Padua grew up in Pearl City, Hawaii and in 2007 moved to New York City in order to pursue his MFA in fiction at New York University, where he received the New York Times Fellowship. After completing a short story collection, titled When We Were Awesome, he is now at work on a novel tentatively titled, The Alternatives. He loves stories in all forms, reading them, writing them, or hearing them, and among other things, is dying to tell you about the one time he took a guinea pig on a tour of lower Manhattan in the middle of a rainstorm. He now lives in Brooklyn and swears he doesn’t mind the cold at all. Really, he doesn’t.
Eileen Talone is a 2007 graduate of Bryn Mawr College, and is a graduate student in poetry at NYU, Class of 2011. She moved to New York from suburban Philadelphia this past fall, and did not attend or approve of the Yankees parade. Eileen’s love of stories comes from her father, who regaled his daughters with new horror stories about Santa every Christmas.
