No, YOU Tell It!

The second half of our “Prom Queens” show marks an important No, YOU Tell It! first. Story coach, social media savant, and forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems and Stories by Queens Writers anthology editor, Tim Lindner, took on a new role as storyteller, trading tales with the fabulous Ricki Richards. Give a listen as story coach Pichchenda Bao gets to know our storytellers...

Everyone has a story about going (or not going) to prom.  For this special Bookend Event for the 20th Anniversary of the Brooklyn Book Festival, four contributors to the forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers anthology from Poets of Queens stepped into each other’s prom stories. Before we hear the first pair, give a listen as story director Erika Iverson ge...

This special show was inspired by the Queens Name Explorer , an interactive digital map developed by Queens Memory that illuminates the historical significance behind the people’s names that grace public spaces across the borough. Story partners Francisco Delgado and Ari Figueroa. Photo credit: Sachyn Mital. Give a listen as our second set of storytellers step into the map to explore “My Pla...

For this show, produced in collaboration with Queens Memory and the Greater Astoria Historical Society , our “My Place” storytellers came together for a community writing workshop centered on the Queens Name Explorer . We all generated poems and personal stories on the page inspired by the historical significance behind the people’s names that grace Queens streets, parks, monuments, an...

Give a listen to the second half of our first-ever student matinee , performed at the beautiful Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space on March 13, 2025. Listen to Part 1 here . The fantastic  Najah Imani Muhammad hosted the show for a theater full of high school juniors from Global Learning Collaborative and Talent Unlimited High School to help inspire the personal stories they want to te...

Our spring “Before & After” show was our second time performing at the beautiful  Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space on March 13, 2025, but it was our very first student matinee!  Our storytellers and our special guest host, Najah Imani Muhammad , who are all No, YOU Tell It! alums, illustrated the power of storytelling for a theater full of high school juniors from Global Learning...

It is fitting that this heartfelt story swap, inspired by the life and music of Astoria legend Tony Bennett, includes our first live musical performance. Give a listen as story coach Tim Lindner gets to know a little bit more about our two storytellers before they step into each other true tales in the second half of our “Left My Heart” show performed at Grove 34 on June 5, 2024.  Full...

For the first time, our four storytellers participated in a Queens community “Art Heart” event about a month before the show, where all the participants generated and shared personal stories inspired by the life and music of Astoria legend Tony Bennett from the Greater Astoria Historical Society archives. What started that day grew into this heartfelt story swap about the intricacies o...

After the main arch was completed, a writer for the New York Tribune said: Perhaps never in human history has a mechanical triumph of such magnitude been launched with so little fanfare. In the second half of our Hell Gate show, founding member and story director Erika Iverson interviews the authors before their story partners take the stage so that we can learn more about them and the inspiration...

“With a regular coat of paint that bridge can last as long as the pyramids.” – Bob Singleton, Executive Director, Greater Astoria Historical Society from Hell Gate Bridge, an Astoria icon, turns 100 years old  in AM NY , March 27, 2017 Our September Hell Gate show at Grove 34 in Astoria was a Queens-based Bookend Event for the 2024 Brooklyn Book Festival. Four Queens storytellers traded true tales...

Kicking off part 2 of our “Fly By” show , host Ellie Dvorkin Dunn shares some fun facts about teenage pilot Elinor Smith before we hear the second set of true tales inspired by the story of “The Flying Flapper” from the archives of the Greater Astoria Historical Society . No, YOU Tell It! “Fly By” was on September 28, 2023, at  Grove 34  in Astoria. Podcast introduction by ...

Have you ever heard of Elinor Smith? Our fall “Fly By” show was a fantastic way to learn about this teenage pilot who beat out Amelia Earhart for “Best Woman Pilot in America” in 1930. For this special show hosted by Ellie Dvorkin Dunn and produced in partnership with the Greater Astoria Historical Society , we provided our storytellers with a visual prompt depicting Elinor Smith&#8217...

Did you know that two 16-foot-tall stainless-steel statues once stood atop the Astoria Pool locker rooms? Or that thousands of visitors to the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens signed a book that was included in the Westinghouse Time Capsule designed to endure for 5,000 years? Learn more about the storytellers and the Queens history from the archives of The Greater Astoria Historical Society that inspir...

In the first half of our show, story partners Lakshmi Gandhi and Dan Jessup swap stories about the culture of mutual agitation that bonds Mets fans and a mid-life move to Astoria blocks away from where inventor, Chester Carlson, created the world’s first photocopy. Two Continents and a Whole New Ballgame  by  Lakshmi Gandhi , performed by Dan Jessup The Certainty of Here  by  Dan Jessup , performe...

Celebrating 10 years of No, YOU Tell It! , the second half of our “Punch Up” show starts with the story of a waitress getting a visit from a former co-worker who looks happier and healthier than seems possible. Trying to match her glow-up, she seeks out the same Shaman but finds the visit … less than inspiring. Enjoy “Shaman Says,” Written by Jenn Wehrung and performed by Aida Zilelian. You can al...

Lose yourself in school-age nostalgia in our first story, “Confection Resolution,” written by Matt Storrs and performed by Maria Rubio, which finds our hero fighting the same childhood foe … three times. Switching it up, “The Great Unknowns,” written by Maria Rubio and performed by Matt Storrs, follows an exhausted nurse in the middle of the global pandemic who carves out time for herself wi...

In anticipation of our forthcoming ten-year anthology from Palm Circle Press , we are flashing back to 2014 when we participated in The Brick’s Comic Book Theater Festival in Brooklyn. For this show, we tried something new. Usually, we give our storytellers a theme to inspire their true tales. This time, we only provided the theme “Legacy” to comic artist Sha-Née Williams and asked her to interpre...

As we’re readying the release of our ten-year anthology this fall from Palm Circle Press , we’re rebooting some of the podcasts with improved audio so you can listen while you read. Here’s our first ever tri-flip at Fairleigh Dickinson’s MFA in Creative Writing summer residency, featuring stories by Letisia Cruz, Tazio Ruffilo, and Heather Lang-Cassera. Original artwork by...

Our first story reminds us that a two-week middle school love is the equivalent of several lifetimes of adoration, and when our hero’s girlfriend slips him a break-up note, they all come crashing in. In celebration of 10 Years of No, YOU Tell It! enjoy this 2013 throwback swap of “You’ve Been Noted,” written by Justin Klose and performed by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons. Click here to listen to the...

Breakups can be confusing at times, especially when your heart parts ways with a city. Our first story takes us over the Hudson from New York City to New Jersey as our narrator reflects on what it means to move on from the place that she’s always loved. In celebration of our 10 Year Anniversary here is a throwback swap. Part of our first alumni storyteller show at The Astoria Bookshop. “A Breakup...

This Sunday, May 8 th , marks the 10-year anniversary of No, YOU Tell It! Left to right: Erika Iverson, Jorge Cordova, Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, Jeremy Holmes, and David Harrell. Photo credit: Jon Reznick Help us celebrate by giving a listen to this original set of four switched-up stories from Erika Iverson, Jorge Cordova, Jeremy Holmes, and David Harrell. Support 10 more years by sharing our serie...

This first story takes us on the painful and isolating journey of struggling with stubborn fibroids. Kicking off the second half of our “What I Know” show, our storyteller must find the strength to physically and mentally overcome the enemy inside. Click here to watch a live stream of the show via YouTube. Here’s “Knowing is Half the Battle,” written by Sheria Mattis and performed by Michele...

When the healthcare system fails to provide information and resources on how to handle perimenopause, the narrator of our first tale takes matters into her own hands. Give a listen to No One Told Me written by Julia Granacki , performed by Hannah Leland, and directed by Marcos Stafne. Click here to give a listen to Julia’s perimenopause podcast Circling the Drain ! Click here to watch a live...

We opened our ten-year anniversary season with a virtual tri-flip of stories from across the country. Listen now to hear about a picture-perfect day at Vacation Bible School gone wrong, a revealing trip down Death Road to the Amazon, and an evolving mother-daughter relationship. We also asked our authors to present their answer to this question: “What are three objects that YOU from 10 years ago w...

The second half of our “Defiant” show drops us back into the peak of the pandemic, where our hero is taking Zoom calls and setting office policies from the solitude of his home. As he struggles to define what’s right and what’s wrong while navigating a breakup and suburban judgment, he finds someone he’s willing to break the rules for. Here is “Imaginary Rules” writte...