B. Fly's Poetic Lounge Welcomes Iyaba Ibo Mandingo

Meet Our Guest: IYABA IBO MANDINGO – painter, poet, writer, actor, singer and playwright - is a native of Antigua, West Indies, who came to the United States in 1980 as a young boy.  His earliest exposure to the arts were through his mother, a trained singer, and his grandparents, a tailor and a seamstress who first introduced him to colors and patterns, paving a path to the many ways of expression; drawing, painting, sculpting, writing and performing.  Iyaba studied fine arts at Southern Connecticut State University and today teaches in and around the tri-state area as a Master Teaching Artist.

After a successful two-year Off-Broadway run in 2011-2012, Iyaba’s1man play “unFRAMED” completed its second run in NYC Spring 2017 and has been selected to participate in the upcoming Harlem Arts Festival in June 2017!  He has previously been seen at 59E59th St Theatre as Henry in Deb Margolin’s “The Expenses of Rain” (Laura Barnett, director) and as Jackson Phillip in Derek Walcott’s “Pantomime” (E. Wayne McDonald, director).  Iyaba was a 2011 Artist in Residence at the New York Theatre Workshop.  His new, highly anticipated performance piece “AFRIKA360” is made its debut in November 2016 and is currently preparing to go on tour

Iyaba has authored three chapbooks of poetry, “41 Times”, “Amerikkan Exile” and “40 days & 40 nites of write”.  His first novel, “Sins of My Fathers”, was released in 2014 and is available at http://www.iYABARTS.com.  His first collection of poetry “Fu You Tongue Heavy Lakka 56” will be released in the fall of 2017.