ARTSPEAK RADIO with Annette Billings, Vania Soto, and Janie Harris

Wednesday, August 26, 2020, 12noon - 1pm CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes writer/poet Annette Billings, artist/educator Vania Soto, and educator/poet Janie Harris. ANNETTE BILLINGS is an African-American Kansas poet, playwright, actress and nurse, who now offers by sharing her poetry and prose. She has written two collections of poetry, one-act plays and numerous short stories. Annette’s readers have dubbed her "the Maya of the Midwest," a moniker she allows with all due humility and gratitude. Known for her performance delivery style, she has been received enthusiastically in many diverse venues. Her first book of poems, A Net Full of Hope, garnered the Topeka, Kansas, 2015 ARTSConnect Arty Award for Literature. Her second book, Descants for a Daughter, is a collection of affirmations/meditations and very timely. Annette's third and newest work, Just Shy of Stars, is now available! www.anetfullofhope.com VANIA SOTO Kansas City Local artist Vania Soto was born in Juarez, Mexico and began selling paintings at age 13. Inspired by proud cultural icons such as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, she connects with her by heritage by maintaining influential traditions from this rich past. Building on this theme, Day…