SOURCE: Library of Congress
JULY 7, 2017
Library Welcomes Asian American Literature Festival
Press Contact: Bryonna Head (202) 707-3073
Public Contact: Robert Casper (202) 707-1308
Website: Asian American Literature Festival External
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov
The Library of Congress will host the concluding day of the groundbreaking “Asian American Literature Festival” on Saturday, July 29.
The festival’s concluding day includes two events at the Library of Congress. Both events will take place in room LJ-119 on the first floor of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. The events are free, but tickets are required, and there may be special restrictions. Visit this event-ticketing site for more information and to secure your ticket.
The “Asian American Literature Festival,” to be held July 27-29, 2017 in Washington, D.C. and co-presented by the Library’s Poetry and Literature Center and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, will be the first national festival of its kind. It will feature more than 50 award-winning Asian-American poets, writers, literary scholars, graphic novelists, spoken-word artists and children’s literature authors, in an array of live performances, mentoring sessions and interactive workshops.
The first event will kick off at 11 a.m. on Saturday with a lecture by fiction writer and American Book Award winner Karen Tei Yamashita titled, “Literature as Community: the Turtle, Imagination, and the Journey Home.” A fiction reading by fellows from Kundiman, a leading organization for Asian-American writers, will follow.
Saturday’s second event will begin at 2 p.m. with a lecture by poet and Poetry Society of America President Kimiko Hahn titled, “Angel Island: The Roots and Branches of Asian- American Poetry.” The event will close with a poetry reading in celebration of the release of a new Asian-American poetry issue of Poetry magazine, including readings by acclaimed poets Kazim Ali, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Paisley Rekdal, John Yau and others.
For more information, visit loc.gov/poetry/events.
Kimiko Hahn is the author of nine books of poems, including “Earshot” (1992), which was awarded the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize and an Association of Asian American Studies Literature Award, “The Unbearable Heart” (1996), which received an American Book Award and most recently, “Brain Fever” (2014). Her other honors include a PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, a Shelley Memorial Award, a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a distinguished professor in the Master’s of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, City University of New York.
Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of several books, including “I Hotel” (2010), “Anime Wong” (2014) and the forthcoming “Letters to Memory” (2017). “I Hotel” was selected as a finalist for the National Book Award and awarded the California Book Award, the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award. A U.S. Artists Ford Foundation Fellow and co-holder of the University of California Presidential Chair in Feminist Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Yamashita is currently a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center is a national resource for discovering the consequence and complexity of the Asian-Pacific American experience through collaboration, exhibitions, programs and digital experiences. For more information, please visit smithsonianapa.org. Learn more about Kundiman, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian-American literature, at kundiman.org. For more information about the Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, visit poetryfoundation.org.
The Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center fosters and enhances the public’s appreciation of literature. To this end, the center administers the endowed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry position, coordinates an annual season of readings, performances, lectures, conferences, and symposia, and sponsors high-profile prizes and fellowships for literary writers. For more information, visit loc.gov/poetry/.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.
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PR 17-096
2017-07-07
ISSN 0731-3527
Asian American Literature Festival Day 1
Thu, July 27, 2017, 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
DESCRIPTION
Nan McEvoy Auditorium (bottom floor)
11:30 am-noon Opening Welcome
Noon- 1pm Spoken Word Poetry Workshop, facilitated by Regie Cabico
1-2 pm Flickering Words: A Reading of Queer Asian Writers: Rajiv Mohabir, Wo Chan, Shamala Gallagher, and Peggy Lee- moderated by Regie Cabico
2-3 pm Kundiman Poetry Reading: Franny Choi, Paul Tran, Gowri K, Janine Joseph, and Rajiv Mohabir- moderated by Sarah Gambito
3-4 pm Fiction Reading: Don Lee + Akhil Sharma
4-5:30 pm Vietnamese Diasporic Literature Today: Linh Dinh, Cathy Linh Che, Andrew Lam, Vu Tran, and Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, moderated by Mimi Khúc
5:30-7 pm Poetry Magazine issue launch: issue contributors Garrett Hongo, Li-Young Lee, Cathy Linh Che, and Sueyeun Juliette Lee in conversation with issue guest editors Tarfia Faizullah, Timothy Yu, and Lawrence Minh Bùi Davis
Auditorium Foyer (bottom floor)
12-5 pm Literary Lounge, featuring:
PAL Pilipino American Library, curated by PJ Gubatina Policarpio
Kaya Press #LitinColor Library; Kaya Press #LitinColor Postcard Project
Kaya Press #LitinColor Collective Zine Project
Vigilant Love Haiku Project
Studio Pause Youth Bookmaking Project
AALR tarot card workshop
AALR child to parent letter workshop
AALR t-shirt making station
AALR meme-making workshop
AALR self-care making station
Poets & Writers resources table
Penguin books table
Passenger Pigeon Press table
Tammy Nguyen art books exhibit
Kogod Courtyard (main floor) by invitation
7:30- 9pm Opening Reception, featuring:
Welcome and opening remarks by Lisa Sasaki, Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Rob Casper, Director of the Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center
Stephen Young, Program Director of the Poetry Foundation
Theodore Gonzalves, President-Elect of the Association for Asian American Studies
Durational participatory reading of Carlos Bulosan’s America is in the Heart, coordinated by PJ Gubatina Policarpio
Podcast Interview Station
Kaya Press Literary Trivia
Kaya Press Reading Booth
Literary Projection Annotation Station
Tammy Nguyen art books exhibit
Matt Hyunh Animated Vidoe Adaptation of the prologue to Viet Nguyen’s The Commited
Festival organizers’ toast: Cathy Linh Che, Neelanjana Banerjee, Sarah Gambito, Regie Cabico, and Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis
Asian American Literature Festival Day 2
Fri, July 28, 2017, 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM EDT
DESCRIPTION
Phillips Auditorium (bottom floor)
11am- 12pm Migration, Incarceration, and Unity (Kaya Press Reading): Gene Oishi, Traci Kato Kiriyama, Tanzila Ahmed, and Hari Alluri, moderated by Anelise Chen
12-1pm Bamboo Ridge Press Reading: Gail Harada, Juliet Kono, Brenda Kwon, and Christy Passion
1-2 pm AAWW Margins Fellows Reading: Yanyi, Rami Karim, Kyle Lucia Wu, and Mariam Bazeed, moderated by Jyothi Natarajan
2-3 pm Poetry Magazine reading: Sarah Gambito, Larissa Lai, Shamala Gallagher, and Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, moderated by Poetry Magazine assistant editor Lindsay Garbutt
3-4:30 pm Kundiman/AALR Mentoring Reading: Alexander Chee, Paisley Rekdal, Grace Jahng Lee, and Justin Monson, moderated by Ryan Lee Wong
Phillips L2 (bottom floor)
11am-4:30pm Literary Lounge, featuring:
Kaya Press #LitinColor Library
Kaya Press #LitinColor Postcard Project station
Kaya Press #LitinColor Collective Zine Project station
Vigilant Love Haiku Project
AALR tarot card workshop
AALR child to parent letter workshop
AALR t-shirt making station
AALR meme-making workshop
AALR self-care card making station
Poets & Writers resource table
Penguin books table
826 DC Station
Bamboo Ridge Press table
Fantom Comics table
participatory sculpture installation
bookswap!
Phillips Courtyard (main floor)
11am-4:30pm Literary Lounge, featuring:
PAL Pilipino American Library, curated by PJ Gubatina Policarpio
Durational participatory reading of Carlos Bulosan’s America is in the Heart, coordinated by PJ Gubatina Policarpio
Passenger Pigeon Press table
Tammy Nguyen art books exhibit
Podcast interview station
Phillips Courtyard (bookstore)
12-1pm Literary Addresses: Kazim Ali and Franny Choi
2-3 pm Sueyeun Juliette Lee and Min Hyoung Song
Phillips Carriage House (separate adjoining building)
11am-12pm Moth Jar from North of the 49th: Asian Canadian Writing: Larissa Lai and Kathy Pham
12-1pm Tea with Tarfia
1-2pm Writer-Scholar speed-dating, facilitated by Christine Kitano and Peggy Lee
2-3 Vietnamese American community Meet & Greet
3-4 Vietnamese History talk, by Dr. Nguyen Quoc Tri
Phillips Gallery 116 (Main floor)
11am- 1:15 pm One-on-one mentoring: Gina Apostol, Victory Matsui, Sarah Gambito (by sign up)
2-3 pm Seminar mentoring: Kazim Ali
3-4 pm The Left Hand Turns the Turntable: A Salon on Experimentalism and Building Community, facilitated by Sueyeun Juliette Lee
Phillips Gallery 202 (Second floor)
11am- 1:15 pm One-on-one mentoring: Thi Bui, Nicole Chung, Jennifer Chang (by sign up)
2-3 pm Asian American Children’s Literature Panel: Ellen Oh, Minh Le, Hena Khan, Sarah Park Dahlen, and Susan Tan
3-4 pm DVAN Graphic Narrative & Art Book Panel Talk: Thi Bui, Matt Huynh, and Tammy Nguyen
Phillips Gallery 206 (Second floor)
12-1pm Open mic
1-2 pm Asian American Literature in Hawai’i Panel Talk: Bamboo Ridge Press
2-3 pm Seminar Mentoring Regie Cabico
3-4 pm Open mic
Dupont Underground
6-8 pm Poetry Slam: Paul Tran, Regie Cabico, Louie Vital, Kita Marshall, Jerrica Escoto, Justin Woo, and Simone Jacobson, hosted by Gowri K
8-10 pm LITERAOKE: Andrew Lam, Tanzila Ahmed, Franny Choi, Paisley Rekdal, Tarfia Faizullah, Ed Lin, Wo Chan, Sally Wen Mao, Mimi Khúc, Nayomi Munaweera, Traci Kato Kiriyama, Timothy Yu, and Beau SIa, hosted by Regic Cabico
*also featuring a Toli Moli pop-up station serving Flood
Asian American Literature Festival Day 3
Sat, July 29, 2017, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM EDT
DESCRIPTION
Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building LJ119
11am American Book Award winner Karen Tei Yamashita gives a lecture, “Literature as Community: The Turtle, Imagination, and the Journey Home,” followed by a fiction reading featuring Kundiman fellows Vt Hung, Mark Keats and Sejal Shah. Book sales and signing to follow.
12:30-2pm lunch break
2pm Poetry Society of America President Kimiko Hahn gives a lecture, “Angel Island: The Roots and Branches of Asian American Poetry,” followed by a poetry reading featuring July Poetry magazine contributors Kazim Ali, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Paisley Rekdal, Gerald Maa, Sally Wen Mao, Rajiv Mohabir, Khaty Xiong and John Yau. Book sales and signing to follow.
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Held on July 27-29, 2017 in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian, the Phillips Collection, Dupont Underground, and the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Asian American Literature Festival will be an historic event, the first national festival of its kind.
It comes at a time when Asian American literature is at a crossroads: today’s publishing market and literature classrooms are flooded with more works of Asian American literature than ever, and we find Asian Americans prominently throughout the literary landscape as poets, writers, teachers, scholars, librarians, editors, and publishers. But what does this growth mean for how we understand the shape and importance and tradition(s) of Asian American literature? What is the place of Asian American literature in this current historical moment, and in the futures we foresee? What kinds of literary community do we have, and what kinds do we want?
Not simply a showcase of writers and writing, this Festival will be a convening, engine, and incubator–a cooperative space, with dynamic, interactive programming, for sharing and growing Asian American literature. It will critically assess the state of American literature today and the place of Asian American literature, and Asian American poets, writers, and scholars, in that landscape. It will move Asian American literature forward by growing and mentoring writers, nurturing Asian American literary arts organizations, and building new communities of writers and readers.
Register
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/asian-american-literature-festival-day-3-tickets-35241667777?aff=erelpanelorg
