LGBT Arts Festival Hosts Women's Poetry Event November 4th at Jan Hus Church in NYC

New York, NY, November 02, 2011 --(PR.com)-- The 9th annual All Out Arts' Fresh Fruit Festival continues with a new Harvest Fruits Festival this fall. On Friday November 4th, Fresh Fruit presents a Women’s Poetry Invitational, an evening of women writers, inspiration and empowerment -- with special guests and an open mic -- followed by a meet-and greet-reception. This event will be hosted by Roxanne Hoffman, publisher of Poets Wear Prada and will feature four local area writers known for their outspokeness and activism -- Dorothy Friedman August, Vittoria repetto, Chocolate Waters, and Chavisa Wood -- plus an open mic.

The event takes place at the Jan Hus Church - Masyrik Hall, 351 E. 74th St., New York 10021, between 1st and 2nd Avenues. Showtime is 8PM. Tickets are $12. Advance tickets can be ordered online at the Fresh Fruit Festival website or at OvationTix dot com. The closest subway station is the 77th Street Station of the number 6 train.

Emcee for the event, Roxanne Hoffman, has run Poets Wear Prada, a small literary press, since 2006. Her work appears in several anthologies including "The Bandana Republic: A Literary Anthology by Gang Members and Their Affiliates" (Soft Skull Press) and "It All Changed In An Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure" (Harper Perennial).

Dorothy Friedman August founded "The Helen Review," a literary magazine and was the poetry editor of "Downtown," a magazine of the arts for ten years. She is currently working on a memoir, "The Bastard Heirs," an excerpt of which is being published in Clayton Patterson‘s "Jews: A People’s History of the Lower East Side" (Seven Stories Press). Poets Wear Prada is publishing her third poetry collection, "L-Shaped Room."

Vittoria repetto is the author of two books, "Head For the Van Wyck" (Monkey Cat Press) and "Not Just A Personal Ad" (Guernica Editions, 2006), host of the Womens & Trans' Poetry Jam at Bluestockings Bookstore since its opening in 1999, and Vice President of the Italian American Writers Association (IAWA).

Chocolate Waters, "Poet Laureate of Hell's Kitchen," is one of the first openly lesbian poets to publish in the U.S. during the second wave of feminism, and her contribution is documented in "Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975" (U of Il. Press, Barbara Love, ed.). Founding mother of the radical women‘s newspaper, "Big Mama Rag," author of "Take Me Like A Photograph" (Eggplant Press), a classic of the early women‘s movement, she is celebrating the release of her 4th book, "The Woman Who Wouldn’t Shake Hands" from Poets Wear Prada.

Chavisa Woods’s debut collection of short stories, "Love Does Not Make me Gentle or Kind" (Fly By Night Press, 2008) was a Lambda Literary Award Nominee for Debut Fiction. Chavisa Woods is the recipient of the 2009 Jerome Foundation Award for emerging writers.

This year marks the 9th anniversary of the All Out Arts’ Fresh Fruit Festival created in 2002 to support and present LGBT Art and Artists to fight intolerance. The Festival’s refreshing, innovate approach to LGBT arts allows audiences to sample a wide range of events from performing and fine artists representing different ages, ethnicities, sexualities, and gender orientations. Attendees are certain to find something fresh and innovative to inspire them.

The Fresh Fruit Festival prides itself on the diversity of its performers and equally diverse audiences. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. The mission of the All Out Arts’ Fresh Fruit Festival is "to fight prejudice and homophobia by celebrating LGBT art and artists." For more about the Fresh Fruit Festival visit their website (freshfruitfestival dot com).

Poets Wear Prada is a small literary press based in Hoboken, New Jersey, devoted to introducing new authors through high-quality chapbooks primarily of poetry, since October 2006. "Have you had your poetry today?"

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