Sharing stories about going or not going to prom allows us to find commonalities within each other's unique cultures and identities. This anthology aims to help people, including future prom-goers, celebrate each other's prom stories instead of feeling pressured to live up to what pop culture has taught us prom is supposed to look like.
What better place to give voice to a diverse range of prom stories than The World's Borough!
Prom is short for promenade, a French word meaning "a leisurely walk." This slow walk also refers to the parade of guests, often in pairs, which acts as an opening ceremony for a cotillion or debutante ball. The Prom Queens anthology is arranged as a poetry-and-prose promenade of paired-up contributors. Each promenade pair is introduced by an illustration capturing their combined spirit by Queens artist and contributor A King McCarty.
Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons is a Queens-based writer, college essay writing instructor, and storyteller. Her nonfiction work has appeared in HILOBROW, Marie Claire, Hippocampus Magazine, and numerous anthologies. She is the creator and producer of No, YOU Tell It! (noyoutellit.com), a nonfiction series that brings storytellers together to trade tales, speak each other's words, and empower voices on the page and stage. Kelly Jean is also the editor of the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology, available from Palm Circle Press. Visit kellyjeanfitzsimmons.com and follow @kjfitzsimmons for more.
Pichchenda Bao is a Cambodian American poet and writer, infant survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, daughter of refugees, and stay-at-home mother. Her most recent work has been published in The Offing, SWWIM, Cultural Daily, and elsewhere. She is co-editor of the poetry anthology, Braving the Body (Harbor Editions). She serves on the editorial board of Queensbound, an audio poetry project for Queens, NY, and has received fellowships and awards from Aspen Words, Kundiman, Bethany Arts Community, and Queens Council on the Arts. She lives, writes, and raises her three kids in New York City. More at www.pichchendabao.com.
Tim Lindner is a writer and project manager who has been working with No, YOU Tell It! as a story coach and co-producer since 2020. Tim has published poems in The Northern Virginia Review, Awakenings Review, Artemis Journal, and other notable publications. He is also the editor of The Book of Life After Death, a collection of stories and poems about death and grieving, published by Tolsun Books in September 2023.
