Silo City Reading Series: Megan Fernandes, Diana Cao, DJ B-Cutz, Dayatra Amber, Sating in Place

Featured Artists

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  Megan Fernandes Author, Poet, Educator
  

  Megan Fernandes

  Author, Poet, Educator

  MEGAN FERNANDES is a South Asian American writer living in NYC. She was born in Canada and raised in the Philadelphia area. Her family are East African Goans. She is the author of The Kingdom and After (Tightrope Books, 2015) and Good Boys (Tin House, 2020). Her third book of poetry, I Do Everything I’m Told (Tin House, 2023), was published in summer 2023. Her poems have been published in The New Yorker, Kenyon Review, The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, The Common, and The Academy of American Poets, among others. Fernandes is an Associate Professor of English and the Writer-in-Residence at Lafayette College, where she teaches courses on poetry, creative nonfiction, and critical theory. She holds a PhD in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an MFA in poetry from Boston University.

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  Diane Cao Author, Poet
  

  Diane Cao

  Author, Poet

  DIANA CAO is a writer whose poetry and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, The Georgia Review, and elsewhere. She has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and International Literary Seminars, and she is a winner of Nimrod International‘s 2023 Neruda Prize. Her first chapbook, Relational, is the winner of Sixth Finch’s annual chapbook contest.

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  Mandela Huff Skater, Artist, Photographer
  

  Mandela Huff

  Skater, Artist, Photographer

  MANDELA HUFF is a father, owner and creative director of his own company, head of set design at Legacy House Studio, and an avid skater. Skating led him to discover an insurmountable number of things about himself and opened new doors to friendships he will cherish for a lifetime.

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  Dayatra Amber Artist, Activist, Actor, Musician, Poet
  

  Dayatra Amber

  Artist, Activist, Actor, Musician, Poet

  DAYATRA AMBER was born and raised in Buffalo, NY and continues to call Buffalo home. An artist and an activist, Dayatra is a proud mother of three. She is an actor, musician, and poet, as well as published author.

  Dayatra consistently serves community through organizing, teaching and building community around Cultural Arts, Mental Health and Social Determinants of Health.

  A USMC veteran, you can find Dayatra in a classroom, community center, park, stage or event inviting others to themselves through Radical Self-Love. Radical Self-Love is a series of workshops she created to assist in connecting ourselves with healing the wounds that prevent us from living our best lives.

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  Barrett Gordon Artist, Creative Director, Rollerskater
  

  Barrett Gordon

  Artist, Creative Director, Rollerskater

  BARRETT GORDON is creative director at The WASH Project, a community arts and resource center housed with a refugee-owned laundromat on Buffalo’s west side. Gordon is also a father, librarian, and rollerskater.

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  Aye Min Thant Artist
  

  Aye Min Thant

  Artist

  AYE MIN THANT, originally from Myanmar (Burma) considers Buffalo her second home. She received a Bachelor in Art and Letters from SUNY Buffalo State College, and received he Hyatt’s Award for Excellence in Sculpture.

  Aye has worked as teaching assistant at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and The WASH Project, High School Program Coordinator, Community Development Assistant at Westminster Economic Development Initiative, and Academic Support Specialist at Cradle Beach (Project S.O.A.R.).

  Aye is fluent in Burmese and an active member of the larger Burmese community in Buffalo. She has also received a Certificate in Community Health Worker Training from Community Network for Engagement, Connection and Transformation (CoNECT) in partnership with the D’Youville Pathways Program.

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  Colton Wright Visual Artist
  

  Colton Wright

  Visual Artist

  COLTON WRIGHT is a visual artist. He uses motion pictures and film photography to capture the confluence of man-made structure and nature.

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  DJ Carr Artist, Photographer
  

  DJ Carr

  Artist, Photographer

  DJ CARR is a self-taught artist from Buffalo, NY specializing in portraiture, documentary and street photography. Derrick started shooting digital photography about 12 years ago, and transitioned fully into film photography in 2020. He is inspired by Gordon Parks and his way of documenting and capturing the stories of marginalized people within the inner city. Derrick’s focus often falls on those same subjects, capturing the essence of the moment and revealing the truth within.

  In May of 2021, he was the inaugural solo exhibitor at the new space for The Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art (BICA), highlighting life on the westside of Buffalo. In the following years, DJ worked with Time Magazine, The New York Times, Bloomberg Business Week, WIVB Channel 4 News, Paramount Motion Pictures, BET, and more.

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  DJ B-Cutz (Brandon Mollet) DJ
  

  DJ B-Cutz (Brandon Mollet)

  DJ

  DJ B-CUTZ (Brandon Mollet) is influenced by the work of DJ Jazzy Jeff, Kid Capri, DJ Puffy, and Buffalo’s own skate DJ and WUFO DJ, Ready Robb. Working in music retail for eight years, currently as a customer service manager, Brandon loves every aspect of music, from equipment to production. He aspires to own his own sound company. Father of three—best thing in the world.

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  Drew Huff Artist, Rollerskater
  

  Drew Huff

  Artist, Rollerskater

  DREW HUFF was born and raised in Buffalo. He has always been interested in joining the art space as a creative. In 2023, he taught himself how to create rugs. Through his newfound craft, he’s created multiple art pieces that range from portraits to scenes from manga and anime. He wants to show people that art comes in a variety of different unexpected forms.