Queens Storytelling Festival
Be a part of the second annual Queens Storytelling Festival, a weekend festival featuring local NYC storytellers. Festival programs include live performances, panelists who will discuss their craft and writing, and opportunities to connect with other local artists. The theme is "Queens:" the borough, the women, the icons, however you choose to define it.
Tickets: FREE with RSVP*
*$10 food/drink minimum at The Bier & Cheese Collective and one-drink minimum at Q.E.D. Astoria required to support the generous host venues of the festival.
This program is made possible with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.
Note that all sets at The Bier & Cheese Collective are family-friendly (no curse words and not sexually explicit or graphic).
Be a part of the second annual Queens Storytelling Festival, a weekend festival featuring local NYC storytellers. Festival programs include live performances, panelists who will discuss their craft and writing, and opportunities to connect with other local artists. The theme is "Queens:" the borough, the women, the icons, however you choose to define it.
Saturday at 1:00pm (doors open at 12:30)
The Bier & Cheese Collective
Bailey Swilley (she/her)
Bailey Swilley is a writer and performer from Memphis, Tennessee. A Moth StorySLAM winner and a New York Times Recommended Pick, Bailey has been featured on Kevin Allison's RISK!, Story Collider, Love Hurts and more. Since 2021, she's hosted We Love a Theme at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn. On September 17-20, she kicks off her U.S. tour of her shows, Gimme a Sign! and A Baby For Me? No Thank You, Please!, at the Soho Playhouse.
Gillian Gurganus (she/her)
Gillian Gurganus is a New York-based host and comedian that has performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade, The PIT, Brooklyn Comedy Collective and more. She recently made her international debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performing her critically-acclaimed show And All That Jazz, where critics dubbed Gillian a “high energy pocket-rocket destined for stardom.”
Michelle Chai (she/her)
Mia Raye Smith (she/her)
Mia Raye Smith is an international award-winning writer and solo performer, a Queens-raised artist whose solo plays explore social issues and spark meaningful dialogue. Her work has been presented at theatres, festivals, and venues including Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, and she has toured internationally with her solo performances.
T. Herzich (she/her)
T. Herzich has performed at “Story Collider”, “Awkward Teenage Years”, and co-produces the monthly show “Give n’ Take”.
Saturday at 5:00pm (doors open at 4:30)
Q.E.D. Astoria
Aida Zilelian (she/her)
Aida Zilelian is a first generation American-Armenian writer, educator, and storyteller from Queens, NY. She is the author of THE LEGACY OF LOST THINGS, recipient of the Tololyan Literary Award. Aida's most recent novel ALL THE WAYS WE LIED released last January and she has been on a book tour. She has been performing on storytelling stages in NYC, Montreal, Boston and Los Angeles. She has also been featured in the Huffington Post, NPR’s Takeaway, among other reading series and print outlets. Her poetry chapbook DISSONANCE won the Swan Scythe contest and is forthcoming in June 2025. She will be featured on PBS' Stories from the Stage live in Boston this February. Aida is currently a speaker coach with TEDx Cabarete, which is scheduled for May 2025.
Aida was a 2025 Artist in Residence and has previously performed in the Keepsake House shows Long Story Short, Queens Storytelling Festival (2025), and From Story to Song.
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Aya Kalinga (she/her)
Aya Kalinga is an experienced nurse, passionate about the intersection of conventional medicine, holistic healing, and personal transformation. Guided by a commitment to science, spirituality, and social justice, she has worked extensively with underserved communities while advocating for compassionate, equitable care. Outside of nursing, Aya finds joy in movement through a variety of dance styles and has embraced writing as a creative practice for reflection, connection, and storytelling. Through her work, art, and spiritual practice, she continues to explore what it means to heal—both individually and collectively.
Azhar Bande-Ali (he/him)
Azhar Bande-Ali is a comedian, storyteller, and the creator of Desi SNL, a live sketch comedy show that he writes, directs, and co-produces, now in its second sold-out run. Azhar has also been featured on The Moth and Story Collider, and his original work has won awards at Fringe festivals in New York City and Tucson.
Azhar was a 2024 Artist in Residence and has previously performed in the Keepsake House shows From Story to Song (October 2023), House for the Holidays, Metamorphosis, Inner Child, and From Story to Song. He currently serves on the Keepsake House Artist Advisory Board.
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Grace Mc Nally (she/her)
A Queens-born multi-disciplinary creator, photographer, project producer, and artist whose work blends sharp cultural insight with bold visual storytelling. As the founder of Allegro Photo Industries, Grace brings over 7 years of experience capturing powerful images and directing visually driven campaigns for global brands, indie artists, and social movements.
KiCH (they/she)
Kim Chan is a Queens based illustrator. A majority of Chan’s mixed media work critiques manifestations of White supremacy and imperialist ideation, most evidently in their short comic “Queens - I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down…” Their work has also been seen in places and publications such as, but not limited to: Epicenter NYC, Flushing Town Hall and the Made in Queens Arts Walk. Next month, (10/13), Chan will be joining JH (Jackson Heights) Art Talks’s Comics Artist Talk (Guest Curated by Jesse Lambert) at Espresso77.
Kim has previously performed at the 2025 Queens Storytelling Festival.
Mai Moua Thao (she/her)
Sunday at 1:00pm (doors open at 12:30)
The Bier & Cheese Collective
Anoush Froundjian (she/her)
Anoush Froundjian is a storyteller and cartoonist who has finally gotten comfortable with her first name. When she isn’t telling stories, she draws cartoons for Anoush Talks to Stuff, her webcomic, and co-produces the storytelling show "The Armenian Power Hour" at Q.E.D. with writer/storyteller Aida Zilelian. Find her on Instagram at @AnoushTalksToStuff and more about their next show at @thearmenianpowerhour! (You don’t have to be Armenian.)
Anoush has previously performed at the Queens Storytelling Festival (2025).
Jude Treder-Wolff (she/her)
Jude Treder-Wolff is a storyteller, improviser, and creative arts psychotherapist She is a multiple Moth slam winner, has been featured on The Story Collider, RISK! Generation Women at Joe's Pub, Story District in Washington, D.C, Ex Fabula in Milwaukee, WI, among many other shows in New York and around the country. She is host of (mostly) TRUE THINGS, a game wrapped in a storytelling show performed monthly in Port Jefferson, NY, and the Improv In Real Life podcast.
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Zachary Lennon-Simon (he/him)
Zach Lennon-Simon is a storyteller, filmmaker and union organizer. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Zach has performed at the Magnet Theater, Improv Boston, The Kraine Theater and various bars and living rooms throughout the east coast. He made his first documentary film at age 17, Playing with the Other Tigers, which played at Sundance Film Festival and won the Palm de Schnorrer at the Heeb Magazine Festival. Zach's passions in life is hearing everyone's stories over a nice slice of pizza.
Sunday at 3:00pm (doors open at 2:30)
Q.E.D. Astoria
Danielle Bero (she/her)
Danielle Bero is a Fulbright and Posse scholar, educator, poet and filmmaker from Queens, who co-founded a public school for foster youth and works in public turnaround education. She holds two master’s degrees in education, an MFA from the University of San Francisco and is a self-made film director and screenwriter (Fruit Loops 2023, Pride or Die 2026). Since her first poetry acceptance in Highlights for Kids, she has published micro-chapbook Schooled (Ghost City Press, 2021) and the chapbook Sweet Queens (Bottlecap Press, 2026).
Emily McNally (she/he/they)
Emily McNally is creating the soundtrack for the lovelorn and anxious with their genre-fluid, DIY folk pop music. With vulnerable lyricism, Emily confronts her own naivete and yearning in layers of lush vocals. They hope to share a time capsule of life's emotional whirlwinds in order to ease the sense of loneliness in others (and herself).
Emily was a 2024 Artist in Residence and has previously performed in the Keepsake House shows Found Family, House for the Holidays (2023), Metamorphosis, The Writers Room at Meadowlark, Frames of Reference, and From Story to Song (2024).
Spotify | Instagram | Facebook
Kelli Dunham (she/they)
Kelli Dunham is a nonbinary nurse, ex-nun, comedian, storyteller, and host of the award-winning NPR/Good Get podcast Cared For. Kelli has been featured on the Moth Mainstage, the Discovery Channel and BBC-4. Kelli is currently touring Second Helping, a storytelling show about caregiving, grief, and medical aid in dying, and bringing it to faith communities across New York to spark compassionate conversations about end-of-life care.
Be a part of the second annual Queens Storytelling Festival, a weekend festival featuring local NYC storytellers. Festival programs include live performances, panelists who will discuss their craft and writing, and opportunities to connect with other local artists. The theme is "Queens:" the borough, the women, the icons, however you choose to define it.