Save the Date!
Razzmatazz & All That Jazz:
An Evening in Celebration of
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson
Celebrating Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson at the McNay Art Museum on November 8th, 6:30-9:30 pm. Don’t miss this night in celebration of the writing arts!
2024 Award for Literary Excellence
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson
Honorary Co-Chairs
Dr. Eric Castillo,
Associate Vice Chancellor of Arts, Culture, and Community Impact for the Alamo Colleges District
Cassandra Parker-Nowicki,
Executive Director at Carver Community Cultural Center
Moderator
Glo Miles
Emcee
Molly Cox
2024 Inkstravaganza Committee
Cary Clack, Aminah Decé, Barbara Felix, Winifred Hodge, Zach Jewell, Gloria Miles, Chibbi Orduña, Aaronetta Pierce, Gerard Robledo, Andi Rodriguez, Zsaire Shaheid (Shai), Aissatou Sidime-Blanton, Kirsten Thompson, Alexandra van de Kamp, Maria Williams, Bria Woods
Join Gemini Ink, San Antonio’s Writing Arts Center, at the beautiful McNay Art Museum on Friday, November 8th, for an unforgettable, festive evening celebrating the extraordinary achievements of Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, our 2024 Recipient of The Award for Literary Excellence. Enjoy our star-packed lineup (details coming soon!) and mingle with friends and fellow literary fans as we honor this brilliant poet, multifaceted artist, performer, and community leader who is at the heart of the writing arts in our city.
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson is a multifaceted artist in the worlds of music, poetry, spoken word performance, and community artistic collaborations, and to say she is a powerhouse poet and creative performer only scratches the surface of her talent! We couldn’t be more honored to spotlight her as the featured writer of our annual gala in support of the power of the writing arts in our city. Vocab is San Antonio Poet Laureate Emeritus 2020-2023. She facilitates workshops throughout the U.S. and is the author of She Tastes Like Music (Flower Song Press, 2020). She is an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow and was voted Best Local Poet in 2023 and 2021 by The SA Current. Vocab has had the distinct honor of opening up for Dr. Cornell West, Phylicia Rashad, and Nikki Giovanni. Her albums and collaborative works can be streamed on all major music platforms. Learn more about her at her website andreavocabsanderson.com.
Announcing our Teaching Artist of the Year for 2024, Christen Barrón!
We’re thrilled to honor Christen Barrón with this award for her unwavering dedication and crucial role in making our Metro Health and Rise Inspire workshops a huge success, alongside fellow TA’s Joyous Windrider Jiménez and Aminah Decé. We’re also grateful for her incredible leadership as our interim Partner Classes coordinator this summer.
For the last seven years, Christen has consistently brought highly imaginative and engaging lessons to workshops, meeting students where they’re at while pushing them past their limits. She has the magical ability to make essay writing approachable and fun for our students; we are so grateful for that. What stands out the most about Christen’s teaching style is her ability to be rigorous, playful, and laid back, all at the same time, while constantly striving to hone her teaching craft. We hope you can join us in celebrating both Christen and our Inkstravaganza honoree Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson on November 8th!
ABOUT CHRISTEN
Christen Barrón is a creative nonfiction writer, editor, and writing instructor. Originally from Savannah, Georgia, Christen holds an M.F.A. in Writing and a B.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). She currently teaches first-year writing and creative writing at Texas A&M-University San Antonio. For nearly a decade, Christen taught community creative writing classes for The Deep Center’s nationally-recognized Young Author Project, and she has served as a Teaching Artist for Gemini Ink since 2017. Christen’s writing has appeared in YARN Literary Review, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Document, and The Journal of Writing Assessment. In spring 2024, she was the faculty supervising editor for the first issue of Mosaic, a student-led literary magazine at Texas A&M-University San Antonio.
Past Inkstravaganza Honorees
Jenny Browne
Dr. Norma Elia Cantú
Gregg Barrios
Cary Clack
Carrie Fountain
Tomás Ybarra Frausto
Jan Jarboe Russell
Coleen Grissom
Nan Cuba
Carmen Tafolla
Barbara Ras
John Phillip Santos
Lee Robinson
Jerald Winakur
Steven G. Kellman
Abraham Verghese
David Liss
Sterling Houston
Robert Flynn
Wendy Barker
Naomi Shihab Nye
Rosemary Catacalos
