Lorraine Currelley, poet, spoken word performance artist, Pearls of Wisdom storyteller, visual/artist, art/literary curator and essayist. Executive & Artistic Director for Poets Network & Exchange, Inc. an award winning literary organization; where she curates and produces literary programming. Programming includes but is not limited to poetry and spoken word readings, poetry and creative writing workshops, panel discussions, community stage aka open mic, blog and presentations. In 2017 she made herstory becoming the first female Executive & Artistic Director for the Bronx Book Fair aka The People's Book Fair, the premiere literary event in the Bronx.

Widely anthologized publications include but not limited to Bronx Memoir Project Volume VIII, Bronx Council on the Arts, Earth: Dig It New Generation Beat Poets Laureate An Anthology 2023, New Generation Beats, National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc. 2023 Anthology, Natural Words An Environmental Anthology of Poems 2023, Nat'l & Int'l Goddess NBPF 2023 Festival Anthology, Beat Style Love Poems Anthology 2023. NYC From the Inside, NYC Through The Eyes of the Poets Who Live Here, edited and with an introduction by George Wallace 2022 Blue Light Press. From the Ancestors: Poems and Prayers for Future Generations edited by Ron Whitehead, Trancemission Press 2020. Writing the Walls, Hudson Valley MOCA Publishers and Climbing the Walls, Studio Theater In Exile 2020. Resistance, DoveTales 2020, Empathy in Art: Embracing the other, DoveTales 2018, Refugees and the Displaced, DoveTales 2017, Family & Cultural Identity, DoveTales 2016, Mandela Tributes 2014, PA PoetsArtists #57 2014, Blind Beggar Press 35th Anniversary Anthology, Shirley Part of the Problem Belladonna Publishers, Sling Magazine, Mom Egg Review, MER VOX Gallery (Curator) and Gaptooth Girlfriends: The Third Act, An Anthology. Compulsive Reader (book reviewer 2016 to present.) Memberships include Authors Guild, Poets & Writers, AWP, National Writers Union, Studio Museum in Harlem and Hudson Valley MOCA. Workshopped with playwright and actress Laurie Carlos (deceased) the original woman in blue in For Colored Girls written by Ntosake Shange, Jessica Hagedorn, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, Ginnah Howard and Remica L. Bingham among others. She's a founding member and the former president for The Harlem Arts Fund.

AWARDS, HONORS & PRIZES
Honoree 2024 Bronx Youth Empowerment Program, New Generation Beat Poet Laureate 2023-Lifetime New York, National President USA Chapter Mil Mentes Por Mexico Association International 2023, Bronx Beat Poet Laureate 2020-2022 State of New York. Arts Fund Award 2023, Bronx Council on the Arts, Arts Fund Award and Community Arts Awards 2020, 2021 and 2022. Bronx Council on the Arts, Community Artist Award 2018 and 2019 and Su-Casa formerly S.P.A.R.C., Seniors Partnering with the Arts Citywide Residency Grantee 2014, Bronx Council on the Arts. BinderCon Scholar Awardee 2014 and 2016. New York Public Library Arts for A Lifetime Awardee 2015. AWP Spotlight 2015/2016. Poets & Writers, Inc. Spotlight and Cross Cultural Reading organization invitation 2015/2016.

She has a Master of Science Degree in Mental Health Counseling, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Liberal Arts, a Certificate in Thanatology (grief and bereavement). She resides in New York City. Further information available on inquiry.