The Fellowship Of The The Asian American Writers' Workshop (Margins And Open City Fellowships)

Asian American writers in the NY area this ones for you!

If you're an emerging Asian American writer based in New York, get ready for a big hug. We're excited to announce the call for two separate fellowships tailor-made for you.

You may already know about our Open City Fellowship, now in its fourth year, which gives five writers the opportunity to write and publish short-form and long-form narrative nonfiction on the vibrant immigrant communities of New York City.

This year we're excited to announce a totally new fellowship: The Margins Fellowship, an all new opportunity for three emerging creative writers (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction), aged thirty and under, to establish a home for their writing and a space to develop their careers.

All of our Fellows will receive $5,000, access to the AAWW space, publishing opportunities in our magazines, free workshops, and more. The Margins Fellows also receive residencies at the Millay Colony for the Arts, an innovative seven-acre artists retreat space at the former house and gardens of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. All fellows will serve as writers-in-residence with our online magazines, which have published Chang-rae Lee, Jessica Hagedorn, Ashok Kondabolu, Sarah Gambito, Jad Abumrad, and been linked to by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and The New Inquiry.

The deadline is Friday, May 16, by 11 pm

The Margins Fellowship | The Open City Fellowship

Bricolage + Asian American Writers Workshop

Thursday, July 26, 2012
7:00pm in EDT

Spanning 1980s Midwest to imperial court China, our second installment of Bricolage—a salon-style multimedia show-n-tell—takes us into the brilliant minds of novelists on journeys of recovery. American Book Award-winner Don Lee’s The Collective is a gripping tale of friendship, loss, and the “melancholy burden of unfulfilled dreams” (Publishers’ Weekly). After a tragic suicide, the novel retraces the struggles of three aspiring artists from nascent college years to their travails as working artists of color in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Aimee Phan’s multigenerational novel The Reeducation of Cherry Truong skips across three continents of the Vietnamese diaspora, following a young woman’s mission to uncover family secrets blurred by war, betrayal, and fickle human memory. Described by Library Journal as an irresistible “blend of the highbrow literary and guilty summer pulp,” Pauline Chen’s The Red Chamber re-imagines the Chinese classic in a retelling of opulence and excess in aristocratic women’s quarters of 18th century Beijing. Join us for a night of inquiry in examining memory that lapses time and straddles continents.

This event is co-sponsored by Guernica Magazine of Art and Politics

Pauline A. Chen earned her B.A. in classics from Harvard, her J.D. from Yale Law School, and her Ph.D. in East Asian studies from Princeton. She has taught Chinese language, literature, and film at the University of Minnesota and Oberlin College. She is also the author of a novel for young readers, Peiling and the Chicken-Fried Christmas and lives in Ohio with her two children.

Don Lee is the author of the novels Wrack and Ruin and Country of Origin and the story collection Yellow. He has received an American Book Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, an O. Henry Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Fred R. Brown Literary Award, and was a finalist for the Asian American Literary Award in Fiction. His stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, GQ, The Southern Review, American Short Fiction, The Gettysburg Review, and elsewhere. For nineteen years, he was the principal editor of the literary journal Ploughshares. He is currently the director of the MFA program in creative writing at Temple University.

Aimee Phan grew up in Orange County, California, and now teaches in the MFA Writing Program and Writing and Literature Program at California College of the Arts. A 2010 National Endowment of the Arts Creative Writing Fellow, Aimee received her MFA from the University of Iowa, where she won a Maytag Fellowship. Her first book, We Should Never Meet, was named a Notable Book by the Kiryama Prize in fiction and a finalist for the 2005 Asian American Literary Awards. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, Guernica, The Rumpus, and The Oregonian, among others.

$5 suggested donation

The Asian American Writers' Workshop Launches 3 Magazines

From the PR (and good luck, the magazine business seems to be brutal)

Yeah, you read that right. We're launching three magazines. (Three!) We’re trying to think big--as big as a world where China and India are ascendant and where Asian Americans are bursting out of the margins as a new creative class rewriting what it means to be a global and American citizen. The Margins will be our flagship magazine and Workshop front-page--it’s where we’ll invent the future of Asian American intellectual culture. CultureStrike will share the best of immigrant counterculture in an online magazine at the vanguard of arts and politics. Open City: Urban Asian America will tell New Yawk stories in a time when the city is 70% people of color and home to more than a million Asian Americans. We’ll post videos of Maxine Hong Kingston, Junot Diaz, Teju Cole, Jeff Chang, and Amitav Ghosh and work from director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Das Racist’s Ashok Kondabolu and Amitava Kumar--so you’ll be able to join us even if you’re not in New York. And we want you to come to our June 28th LAUNCH PARTY to celebrate it.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be working out the kinks in our beta launch and come to our exclusive launch party on June 28 from 7pm-midnight at Projective Space (below). You’ll see Das Racist’s Ashok Kondabolu present a special custom show just for the party. Literary enfant terrible Tao Lin will deliver a slideshow about his Vice magazine columns about “Drug-Related Photoshop Art.” We’ll also feature two signature Remy Martin cocktails (the Remy Victory Tea and the Remy Royale), Tiger Beer, a photobooth, and DJing by Gigantic magazine editor James Yeh. Save the date and RSVP in advance.

Asian American Writers' Workshop+ Call For Creative Nonfiction Fellows: New York, NY

Just in case you didn't know...you still have time.

Call for Creative Nonfiction Fellows: New York, NY

Open City: Mapping Urban Asian America, a new online magazine on Asian American news and culture in New York, is hiring creative nonfiction fellows to produce content on the vibrant immigrant communities of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The new magazine will offer smart takes on Asian American (particularly immigrant) culture as it's lived in New York right now. Imagine stories on: the proliferation of x-rated video stories in Sunset Park, migratory patterns of Little Pakistani residents, karaoke bar culture, gentrification in Chinatown, or how Korean taco trucks define ethnic borders and space.

Applications are now due on March 2, 2012.

How to apply: aaww.org/opencityapply.

For more info., contact Kai Ma, editor, at kma@aaww.org.

Page Turner And The Sexy Nerd Party

While this week has been busy and I'm not expecting a ton of posts this week (and has that really been any different from the last few weeks - no - no it hasn't) - I wanted to make sure and post this up:

The Sexy Nerd Party: Page Turner Kick-Off with Fred Ho and Das Racist
Featuring drinks, music, dancing and guest appearances by Tao Lin, Richard Price, Lorraine Adams, Nami Mun, Karan Mahajan, and others.
Live music by Fred Ho and Das Racist
Saturday, November 6, 8-11pm
Chambers Fine Arts, 522 West 19th Street, NY, NY
$40 entry / $60 for two

Sorry, pal. If you're a writer or if you're Asian American, odds are you were once a nerd. Don't be ashamed--you're all grown-up now and besides, thanks to Andre 3000, Tina Fey, and Google, nerd chic is in. So, throw on your most festive attire and stumble over to the swankiest Asian Art gallery in New York, where we'll have drinks and dancing. You can support your favorite nonprofit by gazing shyly at the cute red-haired girl across the room, getting drunk in the presence of writers likeTao Lin, Richard Price, Lorraine Adams, Nami Mun, and Karan Mahajan, and dance awkwardly in the corner with your favorite sexy nerd. Featuring jazz legend Fred Ho and hip hop ensemble Das Racist as musical guests. You bring the sexy, we'll bring the nerd. Admission comes with free sexy nerd glasses.

PAGE TURNER: The Asian American Literary Festival
Featuring Susan Choi, Tao Lin, Tan Lin, Das Racist, Richard Price, Tim Wu, Henry Chang and others!
Sunday, November 7, 11am-6pm
Literary Awards Reception 6-7pm
powerHouse Books, 37 Main St Brooklyn, NY, NY

Hey, let's you and I create the next Asian American intellectual milieu. The Workshop's premiere festival will feature more than twenty writers to create a brainy and eclectic literary space. Hear Richard Price, author of Lush Life and The Wire, talks shop about the Lower East Side with crime novelist Henry Chang. Marvel at well-known writers reading their best work that got rejected by literary journals. And take a break at our cozy upstairs mezzanine space--we're calling it The Hangout and it's where we'll have Asian American superheroes, drunken scrabble, and more. It all shakes down at the hottest bookstore in New York.

Featuring Meena Alexander, Gina Apostol, Henry Chang, Samantha Chanse, Susan Choi, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Luis H. Francia, Sarah Gambito, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Fred Ho, Young-ha Kim, Myung-mi Kim, Hari Kondabolu, Amitava Kumar, Tan Lin, Tao Lin, Jerry Ma, Karan Mahajan, Cate Marvin, Nami Mun, Manijeh Nasrabadi, Wena Poon, Richard Price, Iraj Isaac Rahmim, Bino A. Realuyo, Akhil Sharma, Roger Shimomura, Sung J. Woo, Tim Wu, Jeff Yang, and Monica Youn.

http://pageturnerfest.org/#pageturner

In Their Own Words: Ching-In Chen And Olivewood Cemetery

Caugh this article and wanted to post some of it up where Ching-In Chen, the author of The Heart’s Traffic, talks about her poem "Olivewood Cemetery: a haibun of Riverside, California".

This poem began at a Ching Ming (grave-cleaning) ceremony for the Riverside Chinese who hadn’t been sent back to China and didn’t have descendants to take care of them. I felt a chill — of history, ghosts, untold stories, communal energy — as we gathered to read the names of the dead. The list also consisted of death causes, occupations, ages. As the roll call continued on in my head, what became clear was how much I did not know about these people. At the time, I was teaching sections for Creative Writing and we had to read Rick Moody’s “Boys,” in which he repeats the same sentence over and over, adding in different meanings by adding layers over the sentence. This made sense to me for my Chinatown dead.

Read it in full here.

BREAKING THE BOW: The 1st Annual Independent Asian Pacific Islander Performing Artists and Writers Festival

Back in August I talked about Breaking The Bow And The Ten-Minute Asian Pacific Islander Play Contest - and now - it's just around the corner.

Check it.

Over 70 Asian Pacific Islander artists participate in the 6 performance, 4 day event October 22-25, 2009 at the Miles Memorial Playhouse at 1130 Lincoln Blvd; Santa Monica, CA 90403.

Programs include play readings, an API cabaret, and Battle of the Pitches, and an innovative screenwriting pitch competition. Sponsors include FOX Diversity, East West Magazine, and Visual Communications.

Thursday October 22

5PM Kick Off Party with Cold Tofu and Dawen($5)

6:30PM VIP Reception ($10 with invitation)

8PM: Battle of the Pitches/Ten Minute Asian Pacific Islander Play Contest
Performances with Kristina Wong special performance ($10 admission with $5 Battle of the Pitches contest entrance fee) Pitch sessions with FOX 2000 and FOX Searchlight for best screenplay pitch. Celebrity judges.

Friday+Saturday October 23-24 8PM

AARGH!!, the API cabaret ($15) (Ken Choy, Jude Narita, Rodney Kageyama, D’Lo, Youtube all star musicians Seriously, Mikey de Lara, C. Kenneth Lee, Dawen, and Sue Jin)

Sunday October 25

2PM: Ken Narasaki’s No-No Boy reading ($5) Premiere
7PM: Staged reading of Ken Choy’s theatrical extravaganza Lazy Susan ($5) Premiere

Miles Memorial Playhouse 1130 Lincoln Blvd; Santa Monica, CA 90403

DIY: Supporting The Asian American Writers' Workshop

While we all know that technically I'm kind of book illiterate these days - although I did finish up The Great Slanty Read-A-Thon early thank you very much - I still know the power that a good book, a poem, or the written word in all its forms can have, and while a good narrative from any author can cross color lines, ethnicity, gender, or religious backgrounds, it's important that there're organizations out there that help foster Asian American writers no matter what their story is, and no matter what level they're at - because it's important that we're heard.

So with that being said, I'm going to re-print a letter from the Asian American Writers' Workshop that their Executive Director Ken Chen pointed me too, and while hopefully you'll be able to support their organization, even if you can't, I at least hope you give it a read.

Dear Friend,

In the year since I took over as Executive Director of The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, one thing I’ve learned is: you are unique.

You are a reader at a time when most Americans no longer read for fun. You are the one who stay up past your bedtime, devouring stories and poems. And you’re not just any kind of reader. You are a reader of Asian American literature, even though less than one percent of books are written by Asian Americans.

We are writing you because you are the unique few who believe in the vision of the Workshop. We believe in nurturing writers of promise, whether they’re Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, whose first book party we hosted, or a struggling young writer just graduating from high school. As novelist Ed Lin writes:

“Having grown up with the programs and the people of The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, I feel that they’re not only my family but indeed my homeland. The Workshop helped me get my book published. It encourages a lifelong love of writing and reading. It’s a crucial organization not only for our community, but for the ongoing global narrative as well.”

We believe in showing every American, no matter what the color of her skin, that the Asian American story is a central chapter of the American story. We are asking you to invest in our efforts to build a national home for Asian American ideas.

• Last year, we hosted 30% more writers than we did in 2006 and 2007 combined. That’s more than 120 authors from nearly twenty ethnicities.

• My first priority has been putting the Workshop’s house in order. We’re applying for a grant a week. We’ve recruited five new board members, started a young professionals group, and collaborated with 40 different organizations.

• We’re laying the groundwork for the future. We’re working on a website overhaul that’ll turn aaww.org into a national intellectual center, oral storytelling workshops in Flushing and Brooklyn, and a revamped writer fellowship program with artist residencies at Yaddo and Beijing University.

Unfortunately, the Workshop faces a perfect storm that’s left us fighting for our survival. While the recession has affected everyone, we were also hit with a lawsuit from our landlord, who sued to evict us for a more profitable tenant. We’ve successfully settled the suit, but find ourselves forced to start an emergency campaign to support the Workshop. Many of our stalwart funders still believe in the Workshop but find themselves with less money to give. So, just as the Workshop began as a grass-roots community of friends, we once again depend on you—the individual readers and writers who’ve made the Workshop what it is—to step in and nurture us.

Have you ever recognized yourself in an Asian American novel? Have you ever faced a blank page and mustered up the courage to write? Do you still read, when the majority of Americans choose not to? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I ask you to donate using the attached card or via aaww.org/donate. Our goal is to raise $130,000. If we do not meet this challenge, we will be forced to cut our programming, severely restrict our operations, and close our reading room. We’ve raised a fifth of this amount this month and we’ll reach our goal if you each donate at least $20.

We are so confident that the Workshop can survive these growing pains that we’re already planning for this winter’s Annual Asian American Literary Festival, which will be the only national festival of its kind. We want this to be a special celebration of your story, whether you’ve just landed at the shores of this country or if your family has lived here for generations. We want to be your Workshop. We seek to nurture anyone who has a story to tell.

You’re holding this letter because you believe that Asian Americans have something to offer American culture. Maybe you get our letters every year and each time you think, “I’ll just donate next year.” If you’ve ever had this thought, if you’ve ever wondered how you can help out, I ask you to donate now. And if you’ve donated before, think about whether you can contribute more in this hour of need. Donors who contribute $500 or more will be honored in the program for our Twelfth Annual Asian American Literary Awards.

Thank you,

Ken Chen
Executive Director


Want to donate the pain-free way? Did you know you can automatically contribute a small amount every month? Simply go to aaww.org/donate and click “I want to make a recurring donation” and enter the amount you want deducted from your credit card on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. Just skip that one cappuccino. Rent a movie instead of hitting the summer blockbusters. If you contribute just $5 to $10 a month, you can ensure that Asian American stories have a future.

***

Three ways to donate to the Workshop:

1) Using your credit card on our secure online donation system

Donate Now

2) To make a gift by mail, please dowload the PDF and send it with your check to:

The Asian American Writers' Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10A
New York NY 10001

Download a contribution form

3) Phone in your donation by calling us at 212.494.0061

Thanks in advance for supporting the Workshop!

Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. We will send you appropriate acknowledgement by mail.

The programs of The Asian American Writers' Workshop are supported by ABC, The Asian Women Giving Circle, The C.J. Huang Foundation, The Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund of the NY Community Trust, The Jerome Foundation, The Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund of the NY Community Trust, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Newman's Own Foundation, The New York State Council on the Arts, The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, The Ong Family Foundation, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Union Square Awards of the Tides Foundation, Lee Anav Chung, and the generosity of our individual donors.

Get Your Asian American Writer's Workshop On: Luis Francia And Filipino Style

Got sent word about what sounds like a pretty cool event down at the Asian American Writer's Workshop focusing on two Philippine literary icons José Rizal and José Garcia Villa where Luis Francia will be reading some of Villa's work:

The Asian American Writers' Workshop presents
From José Rizal to José Garcia Villa:
An Introduction to Philippine Literary Greats

Celebrate two heroes of Philippine literature andthe Philippine-American heritage and experience JOSÉ RIZAL and JOSÉ GARCIA VILLA with special guests HAROLD AUGENBRAUM and LUIS H. FRANCIA

Readings & Discussion
Light Reception
Monday, April 27 @ 7pmThe Workshop
16 W. 32nd Street, 10th Floor(between Broadway & Fifth Ave)

TICKET PRICING

General Admission: $25AAWW and AAJA Members: $20
Students: $15
VIP Package: $50 (includes books and AAWW membership)

José Rizal (1861-1896) penned the great Philippine novel, Noli Me Tangere. Set during the Spanish occupation, Noli is a love story of a young gentleman who returns to the Philippines from Europe after his father's death. This powerful, moving novel and its sequel, El Filibusterismo, were banned by Spanish authorities. Rizal was later executed for sedition, rebellion, and conspiracy. Now considered a Philippine national hero, his work helped spark revolutionary movements.

Well-known translator and critic Harold Augenbraum discusses Rizal's life and reads from his translation of Noli Me Tangere, published by Penguin Classics, and from his translation-in-progress of El Filibusterismo. Augenbraum currently serves as Executive Director of the National Book Foundation.

***

Known as the "Pope of Greenwich Village," José Garcia Villa (1908-1997) was arguably the most important Asian American writer of the mid-twentieth century, as well as a colleague of modern literary giants such as W.H. Auden and Tennessee Williams. Edith Sitwell called him "a poet with a great, even an astounding, and perfectly original gift... The best of his poems are among the most beautifully written in our time." Penguin Classics recently reissued Doveglion: Collected Poems, a compilation of Villa's work, including rare and previously unpublished material.

Luis H. Francia, reknowned writer and poet, discusses Villa and reads from Doveglion, and will also read from his own Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago. Francia's semi-autobiographical account of life straddling American and Philippine culture won the Pen Center Beyond the Margin Award and The Asian American Writers' Workshop Literary Award in 2002.
***

An informal discussion will be encouraged after the presentations. Wine and meryenda hors d'oeuvres will be served.

FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFO
Please visit the event page or call 212/494-0061
https://www.nycharities.org/event/event.asp?CE_ID=3746

Now you'll never have a reason to not know who José Garcia Villa is.

Asian American Writers' Workshop

Just wanted to post up on some of the programs and events that the Asian American Writers' Workshop is going to be having:

Saturdays, March 14 to April 25 (7 sessions)
Drawing in Color: Empowering Girls through Comics

The comic book world is often viewed as a boy's club. Drawing in Color aims to pop that text bubble by offering a space for young women of color to render their own narratives. Come learn more about this medium as Chitra Ganesh leads an examination of the gender and ethnic stereotypes contained in mainstream cartoons, comics, and mass media, in the process, write and draw your own unique empowered narratives in comic form.

Open to female youth grades 9-12, of all racial backgrounds. All participants are expected to commit to a six-session program and complete all assignments. Space will fill up quickly, so applicants are advised to contact us with the subject line "Drawing In Color" as soon as possible for more information. This youth program is FREE.

Chitra Ganesh was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, where she currently lives and works. Buried narratives and marginal figures typically excluded from official canons of history, literature, and art inspire her drawing, installation, text-based work, and collaborations.

Ganesh draws from a broad range of material, including the iconography of Hindu, Greek and Buddhist mythology, 19th century European portraiture and fairytales, song lyrics, as well as contemporary visual culture such as Bollywood posters, anime, and comic books. The process of automatic writing is central to her practice, and emerges from dissecting myths to retrieve critical moments of abjection, desire, and loss.

By layering disparate materials and visual languages, Ganesh considers alternate narratives of sexuality and power in a world where untold stories keep rising to the surface. In this process the body becomes a site of transgression, both social and psychic, doubled, dismembered and continually exceeding its limits.

This youth program is funded by The Asian Women Giving Circle.

@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)

Free

Thursday, March 26, 7pm
Hari Kunzru and Porochista Khakpour

Khakpour reads from her debut, Sons and Other Flammable Objects and Kunzru reads from his latest, My Revolutions.

@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
$5 suggested donation; open to the public

Being Randomly Bookish - Field of Mirrors: An Anthology of Philippine American Writers

Just thought I'd make a short and random book post on Field of Mirrors: An Anthology of Philippine American Writers which came out last year but that some of you may be interested in if you haven't checked it out. Here's some info from Filipina Soul:

The book, “Field of Mirrors: An Anthology of Philippine American Writers“, was edited by Edwin A. Lozada. It covers a variety of topics, eras and settings, written by the following authors:

Ceres S.C. Alabado, Patricia Isabel Amoroto, Jennifer Almiron, Rick Barot, James M. Constantino Bautista, Evangeline Canonizado Buell, Luis Cabalquinto, Nick Carbó, JP Catenza, Maria Teresa Mendiola Crescini, Janice De Jesus, Rey E. de la Cruz, Shirley B. Dimapilis, Helen Dizon, Ernesto V. Epistola, Rey Escobar, Robert Francis Flor, Penélope V. Flores, Luis H. Francia, Allen Gaborro, Eric Gamalinda, Sarah Gambito, Victor P. Gendrano, Almira Astudillo Gilles, Bienvenido C. Gonzalez, Remé A. Grefalda, Michele Gutierrez, Luisa A. Igloria, Jaime Jacinto, Paolo Javier, Antonio K. Joaquin, Korina M. Jocson, Vanessa Verdadero Kenyon, Susan T. Layug, Lewanda Lim, Karen Llagas, Edwin A. Lozada, Jennifer Mangantulao Macagba, Enriqueta Cartagena Mayuga, Melanie Medalle, Lora Mendoza, Cora Monce, J. Mark Muñoz, Alex G. Paman, Oscar Peñaranda, Rhodora V. Peñaranda, H. Francisco V. Peñones, Benjamin Pimentel, Jon Pineda, Elmer Omar Pizo, Edgar Poma, Cristina Querrer, Charity Ramilo, Barbara Jane Reyes, Maureen Roble, Al Robles, Tony Robles, Gayle Romasanta, Marie I. Romero, Patrick Rosal, Anthem Salgado, Juliana Seneriches, Janet C. Mendoza Stickmon, Luis Malay Syquia, Leny Mendoza Strobel, Eileen R. Tabios, Annabelle A. Udo, Alberto Vajrabukka, Elsa Valmidiano, Jean Vengua, Marianne Villanueva.

PAWA is a non-pofit nation-wide organization of writers and artists established in 1998. Its primary mission is to disseminate the works of outstanding Filipino writers who include Philippine/Philippine American culture in their works.

Author Mo Yan

Interestingly enough when I wrote the title for this post - simple as it is - I did a spoonerism of sorts and wrote Yo Man - just thought that added piece might make this more interesting for the post as I really don't know much about this author - but if you do - or at least heard of him before this - you may want to check him out:

Controversial, admired, and enormously popular both inside and outside his native country, famed Chinese author Mo Yan will make his second U.S. appearance at this year’s convention of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA), to be held in San Francisco 27-30 December.

Three MLA convention sessions examining the work of Mo Yan will be free and open to the public. Mo Yan will appear and take audience questions at the first of these:

Mo Yan and the Reemergence of Literary Independence in Post-Mao China, to be held on Sunday, 28 December, from 3:30 to 5:15 p.m. in Yerba Buena Salon 8, San Francisco Marriott.

Two other sessions, also free and open to the public, feature scholarly analysis of Mo Yan’s work. These are:

Translating Mo Yan, to be held on Sunday, 28 December, from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. in Yerba Buena Salon 1-2, San Francisco Marriott

Comedy, Carnival, and Consanguinity in the Fiction of Mo Yan, to be held on Monday, 29 December, from 10:15 to 11:30 a.m. in Yerba Buena Salon 1-2, San Francisco Marriott

Mo Yan has chronicled twentieth- and twenty-first-century China in dozens of stories and novels noted for both their humor and their poignancy. Among the most popular of these is Red Sorghum, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, The Republic of Wine, Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh, The Garlic Ballads, and Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out was written on traditional Chinese paper using only ink and a writing brush. Several of his novels have also been adapted for the big screen.

Mo Yan’s combination of social commentary and satire takes his memorable characters through major events in Chinese history, such as the birth of the Chinese republic, the Chinese civil war, the Japanese occupation, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the liberalization of the Chinese economy -- with all of their ramifications for Chinese society. While his novels chronicle life in China with a keen insider’s eye, his popularity transcends national boundaries, and his works have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He will be speaking in Mandarin, with an English interpreter.

“The Modern Language Association is delighted to host Mo Yan at our San Francisco convention,” said MLA Executive Director Rosemary Feal. “Interest in Chinese language and literature is growing rapidly in the United States, according to the most recent MLA study on college language enrollment, and Mo Yan’s works are among the most widely read and highly respected of this new generation of Chinese writers.”

About the Modern Language Association

The Modern Language Association of America and its 30,000 members in 100 countries work to strengthen the study and teaching of languages and literature. Founded in 1883, the MLA provides opportunities for its members to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy. The MLA sustains one of the finest publication programs in the humanities, producing about twelve new books a year and a variety of publications for language and literature professionals and for the general public. The MLA’s weekly radio program, What’s the Word?, can be heard on more than 160 radio stations across the United States and overseas. More information on MLA programs is available at http://www.mla.org/.

Word to my format.

Get Your Reader On: The 11th Annual Asian American Literary Awards

I got some information sent out to me from Ken Chen down at the The Asian American Writers' Workshop, and this December 8th they'll be holding their Annual Asian American Literary Awards (now in its 11th year) -- and if you can make it out, you definitely shouldn't miss this.

In addition to reuniting Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang and Law & Order actor B.D. Wong in a special reading to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of M. Butterfly, they'll also be honoring novelist Mohsin Hamid, poet Sun Young Shin, and professor Vijay Prashad.

Here's all the details:

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop presents The Eleventh Annual Asian American Literary Awards Ceremony

Featuring David Henry Hwang and B.D. Wong in a special celebration of M. Butterfly

Since 1998, The Asian American Writers’ Workshop has presented the Annual Asian American Literary Awards to some of the preeminent writers in the country, such as Amitav Ghosh, Ha Jin, Chang Rae-Lee, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, and Meera Nair.

This year, The Workshop presents a Lifetime Achievement Award to Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking play M. Butterfly. We’ll reunite Mr. Hwang with Law & Order actor B.D. Wong in a special reading and conversation with Oskar Eustis, the Artistic Director of The Public Theater.

We will also honor Fiction award-winner Mohsin Hamid for The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Nonfiction award-winner Vijay Prashad for The Darker Nations, and Poetry Award-winner Sun Yung Shin for Skirt Full of Black.

All guests will receive a free paperback of M. Butterfly, published by Plume.

Event Details

Monday, December 8, 2008

VIP Reception 6-7:30 pm
Deutsches Haus at NYU
2 Washington Mews, New York
$100

Awards Ceremony 7:30-9 pm
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center at NYU
36 East 8th Street, New York
$20 members, $30 non-members

Tickets may be purchased online at http://aaww.org/awards_2008.html.

Sponsored by The NYU Creative Writing Program, HSBC, Plume, Edelman, Verizon, Loeb & Loeb, Paradigm Talent Agency, Singha Beer, and The Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

B.D. Wong, David Henry Hwang and a ton of other cool folks for only $30?

Christmas definitely comes early this year people, so get on out and support the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and all that they do.

Get Your Write On: The Asian American Poetry and Writing Group And The Japanese American National Museum

So I got word about some great writing workshops that will be going on at the Japanese American National Museum in collaboration with the Asian American Poetry and Writing group, and wanted to post up the information I got sent about it (thanks to Koji who'll also be teaching one of the classes):

An exciting collaboration in the heart of Los Angeles. Award-winning writers. A world class museum.

This Fall 2008 Asian American Poetry and Writing (AAPW) and the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) are proud and excited to offer community-based creative writing workshops for aspiring and emerging writers. Our goal is to create affordable and culturally sensitive classes that allows writers the space to explore craft and theme in their work.

When: October 4, 2008 - November 8, 2008
(Saturday mornings and afternoons)

Where: The Japanese American National Museum
Little Tokyo, near downtown Los Angeles

Cost: $150 for six sessions. $125 for JANM members
(Minimum 5 participants, maximum 12).

Courses

1. Stories Make us Real (1pm - 3pm)
Introduction to Fiction with Noel Alumit

In this introductory class, we will read stories and then write our own. What are the elements of narrative? How do we utilize character, point of view, dialogue, plot, setting and tone? Through close reading and discussion, we will examine how others have created powerful fiction. We'll also workshop our own writing, helping each other to dig deeper and unearth the core of our stories and in the process--ourselves.

Noel Alumit's first novel "Letters to Montgomery Clift," has received many awards including the Stonewall Book Award (American Library Association), Violet Quill Award (Insight Out Books), the Global Filipino Literary Award (Our Own Voice), and the Gold Seal (ForeWord Magazine). He has also been nominated for the PEN Center USA West Literary award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Asian American Literary Award. His second novel "Talking o the Moon" was published in 2007 and went on to become a Los Angeles Times Bestseller. He also teaches for UCLA Extension. He blogs at http://thelastnoel.blogspot.com/

2. The World is a Poem (11am - 1pm)
Introduction to Poetry with Neil Aitken

There are moments in our lives that transform us or change the way we view the world around us. Something we see or feel moves us beyond where we've been. Often it's love or loss, the stories of how we got here or where we are going, or maybe just the way that something we've always taken as ordinary reveals itself as extraordinary or beautiful. What makes a poem a poem? How do we set down our thoughts and emotions in a more powerful way? This course will cover essential poetcraft including: imagery and figurative language, rhythm and sound, line and form, and lyric and narrative styles. Some discussion of poetry journals and publishing will also be provided.

Neil Aitken is the author of The Lost Country of Sight which won the 2007 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry and is due out from Anhinga Press in November 2008. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside and is currently pursuing a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing at USC. More information about Neil can be found on his website: www.neil-aitken.com

3. Claiming Your Voice (11am - 1pm)
A memoir/personal writing class with Naomi Hirahara

Have you always wanted to write, but are not sure quite how to put your thoughts and experiences on paper? How do you find your written "voice" and how do you nurture and sustain it? Instruction will include writing exercises that allow students to take creative risks in a safe and encouraging environment. Participants will learn how to remove obstacles that keep them from being truly free in their writing. Basic craft skills will also be covered.

* Please note: Naomi's class will run from Oct 4 - Nov 15 with Oct 25 off

Award-winning writer and former Rafu Shimpo editor Naomi Hirahara is a Los Angeles literary treasure. She is the author of the Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai mystery series, which includes Summer of the Big Bachi, Gasa-Gasa Girl, and Snakeskin Shamisen.

4. Lights, Camera, Write (11am - 1pm)
Introduction to Screenwriting with Koji Steven Sakai

For the cinephile who has the next great American Film within them, this six-week course will introduce you to the craft of screenwriting, where students will focus on story structure, scene development and dialogue. From plot-driven action to independent drama, students will write and workshop short scenes, basic outlines and short treatments.

Koji Steven Sakai is a graduate from USC's Masters of Professional Writing program. He co-wrote, Haunted Highway, which was directed by Junichi Suzuki and distributed by Lions Gate DVD. He has held several fellowships, starting with the most recent, which include: Film Independent's Project: Involve (2007), Visual Communication's Armed With a Camera (2006), and Screenwriting Expo 4 New Visions Fellowship award (2005). When he isnt' fighting crime or making movies, he is the Manager of Pubilc Programs at the Japanese American National Museum.

For more information and to enroll online, go to Asian American Poetry and Writing’s home page http://www.aapw-la.org/.

Here's also the contact info for the JANM:

Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.janm.org

The Hyphen Asian American Short Story Contest

Just a FYI out there to all of you writers that the Hyphen Short Story Contest has begun, and that they are taking submissions up through July 11, 2008. Here's the scoop from their site (where I'm also helping to blog):

Hyphen magazine and the Asian American Writers' Workshop are taking submissions for their 2008 Short Story Competition.

The winner pockets a $1,000 prize and has his or her story published in Hyphen magazine.

The winner of the 2007 Short Story Competition was Preeta Samarasan (for her story "Our House Stands in a City of Flowers"), whose debut novel Evening is the Whole Day will be published by Houghton-Mifflin later this year.

Writers of short fiction are encouraged to enter the 2008 Short Story Competition jointly sponsored by Hyphen and The Asian American Writers' Workshop (AAWW). The winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, publication in Hyphen magazine, a one-year subscription to Hyphen and a one-year membership to AAWW. Ten finalists shall also receive a one-year membership to AAWW and a one-year subscription to Hyphen.

The competition is open to all writers of Asian descent living in the United States and Canada. To be eligible, manuscripts must be previously unpublished and in English. No email submissions allowed. Only authors who have not published a book-length prose fiction manuscript are eligible. The competition is limited to short works of fiction, including short stories, novellas and excerpts from novels; the latter must stand alone as a separate work. There is no required theme or page limit.

Submissions must be postmarked by Friday, July 11, 2008 and accompanied by a $10 entry fee per story. Please send four copies of your story using paper clips. Manuscripts will not be returned and will be acknowledged only if a SASE is provided. Include a cover letter with name, address, email, daytime telephone number and a 3-sentence bio. The story title and page number should be clearly labeled on each page of the submission. Your name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript, except on the cover letter. Manuscripts should be typewritten and double-spaced on 8 1/2 X 11 plain white paper. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

Manuscripts may be under consideration elsewhere, but please notify us immediately if your story is accepted for publication. Hyphen retains first publication rights and the right to publish a portion of the story on its website. All rights revert to the author upon publication.

To enter the short story competition, please send submission to:

The Asian American Writers' Workshop
2008 Short Story Competition
16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10A
New York, NY 10001-3808

Make checks payable to "Asian American Writers' Workshop."

Entrants will be notified by or on Monday, Oct. 6, 2008.