74 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • AUGUST 31, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
‘Humans of New York’ docuseries on
Facebook will feature interviews in Queens
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com
Brandon Stanton’s photography
project “Humans of New York” has
captivated audiences since its inception
in 2010 and now, he’s releasing
a docuseries on Facebook’s new platform,
Th e Watch.
Stanton, who was fi red from his job
as a bond trader in Chicago in 2009,
began posting photos and interviews
with everyday New Yorkers soon
aft er. His project has exploded in
popularity and has allowed him to
travel to diff erent countries to bring
his audience stories from around
the world.
Th e docuseries will attempt to do the
same but in a video format. Stanton
began the project four years ago and
has interviewed more than 1,200 people
in 400 days from around New
York. Th e trailer, which was released
on Facebook on Aug. 24, opens with a
scene of the Queensboro Bridge.
A spokesperson for the docuseries
said interviews from Long Island
City and Astoria will likely be featured
in the show. It’s not clear if
other Queens neighborhoods will
also be featured.
Stanton stops people on the street
and is usually able to get his subjects
to open up and admit personal
and sometimes painful stories with
others. His Facebook page has more
than 18 million likes and each post is
fl ooded with thousands of comments.
“Early on I realized that video
would add a deeper layer to Humans
of New York,” Stanton wrote in a
Facebook post. “At the heart of all
these posts are the conversations
themselves. I’m oft en deeply moved
by the people I meet. But I always
knew that video would provide
the closest thing to ‘actually being
there.’”
Th ere will be 12 parts released
in total and one episode will be
released per week. Th e fi rst episode
will be released sometime next week.
Facebook’s Th e Watch will feature
a mix of short-form videos as well
as a few longer projects like “Last
State Standing” from “American
Ninja Warriors” producer A. Smith
and Co.
“My goal was not to make a television
Kew & Willow Books slated to open in September
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com/ / @AngelaMatua
With the help of hundreds of Queens
residents eager to bring bookstores back
to the borough, three former Barnes &
Noble employees are turning a new chapter.
Kew & Willow Books will open at
81-63 Leff erts Blvd. in Kew Gardens and
owners Vina Castillo, Natalie Noboa and
Holly Nikodem are hoping to be ready by
the end of September. Th e three friends
met while working at a Barnes & Noble
in Forest Hills, which shut its doors in the
summer of 2015.
Th e Bayside and Jamaica locations
also closed, leaving Queens with just one
bookstore ‒ Th e Astoria Bookshop ‒ selling
new releases. Th e friends had years
of experience working in book retail and
knew that Queens residents would be
willing to pitch in to bring back a bookshop.
Th ey started a Kickstarter page and
raised more than $72,000 from 831 people
to fund the endeavor. Aft er settling
on a location in May, the trio invited
friends to a sneak preview of the shop in
early August. Th e 700-square-foot space
will display adult fi ction and non-fi ction
books while the back of the store will
be dedicated to children’s, young reader
and young adult books with room for
story time.
As a general purpose bookstore, Kew
& Willow Books will stock every genre,
including fi ction, history, biography,
self-improvement and more. Owners will
also highlight local authors with a permanent
display for Queens writers that will
rotate once a month.
Th e name, which pays homage to
Kew Gardens, is also inspired by the
Whomping Willow in the Harry Potter
series. Th e author J.K. Rowling created
the tree for her series aft er visiting the
the Kew Gardens Botanical Garden in
England.
“It feels amazing to fi nally have a space
that we love as well as a neighborhood
that has welcomed us with open arms,”
the owners said in a statement. “Kew
Gardens, and really all of Queens, have
been so supportive and encouraging. We
really can’t thank them enough for loving
books as much as we do.”
Th e trio will host an author event on
Sept. 14 at the Maple Grove Celebration
Hall at 127-15 Kew Gardens Rd. Queens
mystery authors Alex Segura and Lyndsay
Faye will talk about their books and the
moderator will be Daniel Ford, an author
and podcaster at Writer’s Bone.
Photo via Facebook/QueensBookshopInitiative
Kew & Willow Books will open in Kew Gardens later this year.
show based on Humans of New
York,” Stanton wrote on Facebook.
“I wanted the television show to *be*
Humans of New York. I think I came
pretty close. And I think/hope you
will love it.”
Photo courtesy of Brigade Marketing
The popular photo project “Humans of New York” will feature Queens residents in its new video format.