Today we are shining the spotlight on Kerina Pharr, a writer who first attended the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival in 2010. She read from her short story “Subtle and Underneath” at the Festival and had quite a wonderful experience there.

Pharr was first encouraged to come to the Festival when she met our own Heidi Durrow, during Durrow’s book tour of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky. She was so inspired by Durrow that in one weekend, Pharr sat down and wrote out a short story to submit in just one weekend. Thank goodness that she did, too, because at the Festival, Pharr discovered a feeling of community and the “shared experience of living your life between the lines of race and culture.” Not only that, but Pharr found the atmosphere to be “warm, loving, and encouraging,” and one of “acceptance and validation.”

Last we heard from her, Pharr was busy busy busy!! (Hopefully not too busy, though. The next Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival is fast approaching!) Her short story “Waning of the Sanguine Humor” was published in an issue of an online magazine. http://writefromwrong.com/2010/10/14/fiction-october/ Also, she has been working on her first book, City Upon a Hill; our last update was 80,000 words and counting! Pharr has also set up a website, so to learn more about her experiences with becoming a writer, check it out at www.kerinapharr.com .

Thank you, Kerina Pharr, for sharing your experiences and insight with us. I hope that all who attend the Festival are able to take from it what you did, and to experience “a feeling of ‘I’m home.’”

Lacey Schwartz, producer and director of the film Outside the Box, attended the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival in 2010. She participated by screening a teaser of her film and then took part in some Q&A afterward.

She greatly enjoyed interacting with the enthusiastic audience that saw the screening. The audiences as well as the participants at the Festival carry about them a uniqueness and a sense of identity purely their own; they are truly individuals, with their own opinions and stories to be told. Schwartz found the goal of the Festival to be one of extreme importance, as it “[gives] space to talking about issues of complex identity.” (This is probably a good spot to thank everyone who makes this wonderful event possible; thanks, everybody!)

Last we heard from her, Schwartz was further developing her media and consulting company, Be Media LLC. She was also adding the finishing touches to her documentary Outside the Box, which you can more about at outsidetheboxfilm.com. Thank you for interviewing with us, Lacey Schwartz!

This week we’re focusing the spotlight on Celina Martinez, a writer and teacher. Martinez first attended the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival in June of 2010. She was drawn to the Festival because of its focus on mixed heritage, and how people chose to express their ideas and emotions towards that through various mediums. The exploration of identity is a topic to which Martinez could definitely relate.

During the Festival, Martinez enjoyed listening to and viewing the works of other authors and artists. She enjoyed meeting other people on her panel. Overall she enjoyed that the Festival “dealt with important issues about race and identity across various disciplines and art forms.” (I couldn’t have said it better myself; thank you to Martinez for that quote!)

Last we heard from her, Martinez was back in the Big Apple, finishing her second year working with the Teacher’s Fellows Program, teaching young special needs students and earning a masters degree in education to boot. Martinez has found time in her busy schedule to write while commuting from work and graduate school. Her latest work is a collection of short stories which take place in Los Angeles titled “Four Corners.” Check out Martinez’s blog about her life in New York at http://ontheb65.blogspot.com/. Thank you for chatting with us, Celia Martinez!

This week we’re shining the spotlight on Athena Asklipiadis, a woman who has attended the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival for the past few years. At her first Festival, Asklipiadis came as an attendee, but in years following she has manned a booth.

A part of the Festival that Asklipiadis enjoyed greatly was seeing children participate at the variety of activity and reading stations. Although she wishes that there had been such a program available to her when she was their age, Asklipiadis is pleased to know that such resources are now available to young people and that Mixed Roots is reaching out to them as well.

Aside from her regular work, Asklipiadis founded Mixed Marrow, an organization committed to “register more donors to the national registry as well as spreading awareness through social media, print media and film.” She also works with various other organizations to promote this cause.

Thank you to Athena Asklipiadis for taking the time to interview with Mixed Roots. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to see her around and add some names to the national bone marrow donors list!

Today we’re having a chat with Nicole Koschmann, a film-maker who participated in the 2010 Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival!

At the Festival, Koschmann’s documentary Black, White, and Yellow was screened in front of an audience that she felt was the best possible for the film. The documentary is about transracial adoption, a subject to which a surprising number of viewers could relate. Koschmann describes the discussions after the showing as being “really interesting and dynamic.” In addition to these conversations, she greatly enjoyed the welcome atmosphere and the variety of chats with other writers, film-makers, and musicians.

Last we heard from her, Nicole Koschmann was focusing on photography and taking the time to raise her two sons. She told us that she does, however, have plans to return to film-making in the future! Speaking of which, Koschmann confided that she would just love to attend and participate in another Mixed Roots Festival! Which, by the way, is a great idea for everybody! (wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) Seriously, people, this year’s Festival is going to be a blast! And with that little commercial, we’ll wrap up this interview. Thank you so much for your time, Nicole Koschmann; we cannot wait to see you and your work at a Festival!

Time for another of our “Where Are They Now?” specials. This week we’re focusing on Tara Betts, a writer who took part in the Festival in June, 2010. During the Festival, she read from her book Arc & Hue and also spoke with other authors about literature.

Betts especially enjoyed these chats at the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, remarking that not one conversation “privileged [or] favored one identity over another, which sometimes happens in conversations on interracial identity.” Thank you, Ms. Betts, for taking part in such discussions. The exploration of such subjects as interracial identity in today’s world.

And where is she now? you may ask. Well, last we heard from her, Betts was finishing a series of works, among them an anthology of bop poems as well as a children’s book. She was also in the process of co-editing an anthology of formal poetry by African American poets. Betts was also pleased to say that some short film adaptions of her poetry were in the making. She also plans to complete a memoir in addition to fiction, emphasizing that she wishes to be a writer who is “not bound by genre.” Thank you for your time, Ms. Betts, and please do keep writing!