Our friends at the Asian American Literary Review are holding a day-long symposium on Asian American literature at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles on Saturday, May 7 2011. Below is information on the event and the list of prominent Asian American writers who will be reading at the special event. The symposium is sponsored in part by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, among numerous community and university supporters.
For information regarding the event and the journal, contact Editors Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis and Gerald Maa at editors@aalrmag.org.
ASIAN AMERICAN LITERARY REVIEW HOLDS FIRST WEST COAST SYMPOSIUM IN LITTLE TOKYO, LOS ANGELES
When: May 7, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Where: Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St., Los Angeles
FREE TO THE PUBLIC
8+1: A Symposium, Voices from the Asian American Literary Review will feature Joy Kogawa (Obasan), Kip Fulbeck (Part Asian, 100% Hapa), Rishi Reddi (Karma and Other Stories), R. Zamora Linmark (Leche, Rolling the R’s), Reese Okyong Kwon (short fiction writer, recently named one of Narrative’s “30 Below 30” writers), Viet Nguyen (Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America), Hiromi Ito (Killing Kanoko) with award-winning translator Jeffrey Angles, Ray Hsu (Cold Sleep Permanent Afternoon) and Los Angeles native Brian Ascalon Roley (American Son).
These writers reflect the richness and complexity of the Asian American literary landscape. With family roots in Japan, India, the Philippines, Korea, China, and Viet Nam, these writers touch upon fluid identities and communities, erased histories, and linguistic and cultural alienation. Their work ranges from delicate to expressive, experimental to moral.
The symposium will include paired readings, Q&A sessions and book signings. The public may attend any or all of the readings.
Some of the featured writers are included in the latest issue of the Asian American Literary Review, which has just been published. The press release announcing the exciting new issue is below the jump…
The Asian American Literary Review’s new issue, entitled “Counting Citizens,” is now available for purchase. Featuring new writing by legendary Japanese Canadian novelist Joy Kogawa (Obasan), an interview with PEN/Hemingway award-winner Chang-rae Lee (A Gesture Life, The Surrendered) by Maud Casey, a forum on Census 2010 and multiracialism with Jeffrey Yang, C. Dale Young, and Srikanth Reddy, a Library of Congress bibliography of “lost” small magazine and journal publications by Carlos Bulosan (American Is in the Heart), and new poetry and prose by Kimiko Hahn, Prageeta Sharma, and Eric Gamalinda.
These works reflect the richness of the Asian American experience and imagine what it means to be a “citizen” and not a “citizen” in all of the term’s complexity. With family roots in Japan, India, the Philippines, Korea, China, and Viet Nam, the issue’s writers touch upon fluid identities and communities, mixed race, erased histories, and linguistic and cultural belonging.
Also featuring:
• translations of work by Japanese Peruvian poet José Watanabe
• photo-essay on post-Katrina NOLA Vietnamese American urban gardens, by Kari Lydersen
• photo-essay on Vietnam and the legacies of war, past and present, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• video short and essay by Kip Fulbeck
• new poetry by Ray Hsu, Rick Barot, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Adrienne Su, Ching-In Chen, Pimone Triplett, and Jeffrey Yang; new fiction by Shawna Yang Ryan, Nina McConigley, and Sangeeta Ray
• Arthur Sze interviewed by Gerald Maa; comic art by Kaytea Petro and visuals by Tyrone Nagai
• book reviews of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes, Larissa Lai’s Automaton Biographies, and Bich Minh Nguyen’s Short Girls
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