Cuenta Cuentos

Today’s post comes to us from our Editorial Director at Queenscapes, Daniel Vazquez who also works full time as Assistant Editor at MCD Books an imprint of literary powerhouse Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

As per his LinkedIn.com profile, Dan is “focused on acquiring genre-bending literary fiction and narrative nonfiction representing strong, diverse characters and bold, progressive ideas.

This excerpt we are sharing below was previously entered as a blog entry for Electric Eeel, a weekly newsletter from the folks of MSGxFSG that explores, “the possibilities of storytelling.”

Dan’s explanation of the Dominican “Cuenta Cuento” piqued our interest as a true Queens piece that should be shared amongst our readers, because it’s also the story of one of Queens’ oldest cultures, storytelling. 

Peep the following script as told by a Queens kid, with all the gusto and cultural dexterity you can only find only in a native from the World’s Greatest Borough:

My Dominican identity was formed in my grandmother’s house in Queens, New York. That is, I’m a second-generation Dominican-American. So, when I heard that the inaugural Dominican Writers Conference would be held at The City College of New York, my alma mater, my interest was piqued. 

As an assistant editor at a literary publisher, attending conferences is my absolute least favorite part of the job. But, after some urging from a good friend—a Dominican writer, also from Queens, incidentally—I decided to attend. I am so grateful for the urging of good friends.

The Dominican Writers Conference offered a full day of workshops, panel discussions, manuscript reviews, author readings, and networking held in honor of the inestimable writer, Josefina Báez, who is also an actress, director, educator, and founder of the Ay Ombe Theatre Troupe. I was excited to catch a panel titled “The Importance of Place: A Conversation.” Moderated by Ser Álida, the panelists included Lorraine Avila, Gina Goico, Aura Maria Estrella, Paloma Valenzuela, creator of The  Pineapple Diaries (think a Dominican-American Insecure), and Led Black, founder of Uptown Collective. In the course of  their conversation about the impact of place upon the work and network of creators from the diaspora, Led Black quoted Jay-Z and shouted out the Dominican chimi trucks and weed spots of Washington Heights—a great start to the day.

The theme of the conference was vague: “Dominicanish.” Expanding on that,  the website asks, “We are watered down Dominicans of the diaspora, but are we?” Created by a cadre of Dominican women writers based in New York City who share a deep-seated desire to ensure that stories of the  diaspora are being told by the people of the diaspora, the conference aimed to “offer emerging and established Dominican writers, and the communities that support them, an event that celebrate[s] the important works generated from the diaspora, [and renders] opportunities for more Dominican writers to break into publishing.” To that end, a panel titled “Owning Our Narratives: How Dominicans Are Reshaping the Newsroom,” moderated by Jennifer Gil-Velazquez of La  Galería, brought together some of this city’s most talented young journalists, including Concepción de León and Sandra García of the New York Times, Marjua Estevez of BET.com, Amanda Alcántara of NPR's Latino USA, and Isabelia Herrera of Remezcla. Their discussion covered how to navigate the numerous challenges of working in media, how to champion inclusion and diversity, and how each of them are working to transform the  common perception of Dominicanidad.

At some point during the conference, I overheard someone refer to themselves as a “cuenta cuento,” a Dominican term that translates roughly to “storyteller.” It occurred to me that I had only heard the word used with a negative connotation; I was always led to believe that telling stories was akin to gossiping, exaggerating, or babbling. Hearing someone  else use the term to describe themselves, proudly, made me proud to be a  storyteller, too, just as I am proud to be Dominican. At the inaugural Dominican Writers Conference, I was in the company of other cuenta  cuentos. We were all engaged in telling our stories, committed to  supporting each other, and dedicated to taking control of the narrative  of our collective experience. — Danny Vazquez, Assistant Editor,  MCD×FSG
 

         Folks, click on the link below, if you want to read some more insightful and though provoking literary blog excerpts from the fine people at MCDxFSG:

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