The LBCC’s Gay-Straight Alliance, Diversity Achievement Center and Council of Clubs, with a grant from the campus’s English Endowment Fund, recently hosted Mr.Darrel Holnes (April 16, 2014) as he presented a collection of poetry to campus and community members alike.
“Ask everyone to do their part for the cause and help to broaden and widen the conversation (of equality) so we can really open everyone to the importance of understanding.” This is one of many beliefs held by renowned Afro-Latino writer Darrel Alejandro Holnes, an individual who has pursued equal treatment of minorities to an international level.
“Ask everyone to do their part for the cause and help to broaden and widen the conversation (of equality) so we can really open everyone to the importance of understanding.” This is one of many beliefs held by renowned Afro-Latino writer Darrel Alejandro Holnes, an individual who has pursued equal treatment of minorities to an international level.
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| Photo courtesy of Darrel Holnes. |
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| Darrel and fellow equality proponent George Takei. Photo courtesy of Darrel Holnes. |
With all these accomplishments one could easily be caught up in their own life but not so with Holnes who has never forgotten his early teachings or that his voice is one of the people, “Nothing is ever a one man mission. I thank all my workshop teachers for teaching me to seek out sources of those who don’t have a voice. To help others be on stage to voice their cause.”
Currently residing in New York, NY, Holnes is a native of Panama City, Panama and currently teaches creative writing at Rutgers University. Holnes holds his position as a teacher dear to him and can still find time to mentor his students both past and present even as he continues to rally the voice of equality both near and far.
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| Photo courtesy of Darrel Holnes. |
“I see myself as a student always. The world is the ultimate teacher.”
Obviously no stranger to the rigors of academic life himself, Holnes holds degrees in Creative Writing from the University of Houston and the University of Michigan. He received scholarships to Cave Canem, Canto Mundo, Bread Loaf, and various other residencies, contributed work to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, was a guest speaker at the United Nations, and supported programming at the White House as a Presidential Inaugural Scholar.
Along with his skills as a writer, producer, educator, and activist Holmes also founded EMERGING in New York City which is a movement celebrating innovative, modern and edgy musical theater. Holnes has also established two other groups in New York City; one, a Broadway Understudies & Swing(er)s cabaret currently at Toshi’s Living Room in the Flatiron Hotel, and the other, a Broadway Composers Cabaret at The Lambs Club. Holnes will additionally be debuting projects which will move him beyond the worlds of fine arts and high theater and into TV and Film, a project which he has set for some time now in 2014.
At a glance:
Born: Panama City, Panama
Current Residence: New York, NY
Education: University of Houston, University of Michigan, Cave Canem, Canto Mundo, Bread Loaf, and various other residencies.
Currently Teaching at Rutgers University
Contact Info:
