Asian and Asian diasporic writers, new or established, are invited to send short stories in English for a volume of NEW ASIAN SHORT STORIES to be published by Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia). The book will be edited by Prof. Mohammad A. Quayum whose details are given below. We invite short stories not exceeding 6000 words and NOT published or submitted for publication elsewhere to be submitted to the editor electronically at mquayum@gmail.com, by 15 February 2010. The book will be released in September 2010, and all successful contributors will be sent a complimentary copy of the book upon publication.
About the Editor
Mohammad A. Quayum has taught at universities in Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and the US, and is currently professor of English at International Islamic University Malaysia. He is the author or editor of nineteen books (published by Penguin, Pearson Education, Peter Lang, Prentice-Hall, Marshall Cavendish etc), and his scholarly articles have appeared in distinguished literary journals in the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan, India, and Malaysia.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Call for Short Stories
From the Asian Cha blog:
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Dorina Lazo Gilmore at Eastwind Books 09/12/09 (Berkeley)
Eastwind Books of Berkeley and APEX Express KPFA 94.1 FM Present:
September 12, 2009 Saturday 3:00 pm
Dorina Lazo Gilmore reads and discusses her children picture book, Cora Cooks Pancit
at Eastwind Books of Berkeley
Address: 2066 University Ave. Berkeley, CA 94704
For more information Eastwind Books Berkeley 510-548-2350, www.asiabookcenter.com, books@ewbb.com
This book event is part of the Brick & Radio Asian American Authors Event Series this Fall sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley and APEX Express 94.1FM.
Event will be recorded by APEX Express KPFA 94.1 Radio FM at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, to be also aired on Apex/KPFA radio*.
Come be a part of the APEX shows audience at the bookstore and enjoy listening to rising Asian American authors.
*Apex Express: Thurs. 7pm, KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley, KFCF Fresno, CA www.kpfa.org apex@kpfa.org
Description : Cora Cooks Pancit. Beautifully illustrated, Cora Cooks Pancit tells the story of a young girl who learns her Filipino family culture through cooking pancit noodles with her mother. Enjoy storytime and a pancit noodle recipe.
Cora loves being in the kitchen, but she always gets stuck doing the kid jobs like licking the spoon. One day, however, when her older sisters and brother head out, Cora finally gets the chance to be Mama's assistant chef. And of all the delicious Filipino dishes that dance through Cora's head, she and Mama decide to make pancit, her favorite noodle dish.
Dorina Lazo Gilmore's text delightfully captures the warmth between mother and daughter as they share a piece of their Filipino heritage. With bright and charming illustrations by Kristi Valiant, Cora's family comes alive as Cora herself becomes the family's newest little chef.
Dorina Lazo Gilmore has a B.A. in English and Journalism and is completing an M.F.A. degree in Children's Literature at Hollins University.
Publisher Shen's Books, Illustrated by Kristi Valiant, $17.95, Hardcover, 32 page, Ages 4-8
September 12, 2009 Saturday 3:00 pm
Dorina Lazo Gilmore reads and discusses her children picture book, Cora Cooks Pancit
at Eastwind Books of Berkeley
Address: 2066 University Ave. Berkeley, CA 94704
For more information Eastwind Books Berkeley 510-548-2350, www.asiabookcenter.com, books@ewbb.com
This book event is part of the Brick & Radio Asian American Authors Event Series this Fall sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley and APEX Express 94.1FM.
Event will be recorded by APEX Express KPFA 94.1 Radio FM at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, to be also aired on Apex/KPFA radio*.
Come be a part of the APEX shows audience at the bookstore and enjoy listening to rising Asian American authors.
*Apex Express: Thurs. 7pm, KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley, KFCF Fresno, CA www.kpfa.org apex@kpfa.org
Description : Cora Cooks Pancit. Beautifully illustrated, Cora Cooks Pancit tells the story of a young girl who learns her Filipino family culture through cooking pancit noodles with her mother. Enjoy storytime and a pancit noodle recipe.
Cora loves being in the kitchen, but she always gets stuck doing the kid jobs like licking the spoon. One day, however, when her older sisters and brother head out, Cora finally gets the chance to be Mama's assistant chef. And of all the delicious Filipino dishes that dance through Cora's head, she and Mama decide to make pancit, her favorite noodle dish.
Dorina Lazo Gilmore's text delightfully captures the warmth between mother and daughter as they share a piece of their Filipino heritage. With bright and charming illustrations by Kristi Valiant, Cora's family comes alive as Cora herself becomes the family's newest little chef.
Dorina Lazo Gilmore has a B.A. in English and Journalism and is completing an M.F.A. degree in Children's Literature at Hollins University.
Publisher Shen's Books, Illustrated by Kristi Valiant, $17.95, Hardcover, 32 page, Ages 4-8
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Kundiman Poetry Prize
From the Kundiman website:
Introduction
Introduction
Kundiman and Alice James Books will be accepting submissions of poetry manuscripts for The Kundiman Poetry Prize postmarked between November 15 and January 15, 2010. The Kundiman Poetry Prize welcomes submissions from emerging as well as established Asian American poets. Entrants must reside in the United States.
The winner receives $2000, book publication and a feature reading.
For more on Alice James Books, please click here
Guidelines for Manuscript Submission1. Manuscripts must be typed, paginated, and 50 – 70 pages in length (single spaced).
2. Individual poems from the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, anthologies, or chapbooks of less than 25 pages, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished. Translations and self-published books are not eligible. No multi-authored collections, please.
3. Manuscripts must have a table of contents and include a list of acknowledgments for poems previously published. The inclusion of a biographical note is optional. Your name, address, and phone number should appear on the title page of your manuscript. MANUSCRIPTS CANNOT BE RETURNED. Please do not send us your only copy.
4. No illustrations, photographs or images should be included.
5. Send one copy of your manuscript submission with two copies of the title page. Use only binder clips. No staples, folders, or printer-bound copies.
6. The Kundiman Poetry Prize is judged by consensus of the members of Kundiman's Artistic Staff and the Alice James Books Editorial Board. Manuscripts are not read anonymously. Please click here for a description of our judging process.
7. For notification of winners, include a business-sized SASE. If you wish acknowledgment of the receipt of your manuscript, include a stamped addressed postcard. Winners will be announced in June 2010.
8. Entry fee for The Kundiman Poetry Prize is $25. Checks or money orders should be made out to Alice James Books. On the memo line of your check write "The Kundiman Poetry Prize."9. Mail your entry to:Kundiman
P.O. Box 2565
Staunton, VA 24402-2565
Checklist for entry:
¤ One (1) copy of manuscript enclosed, with acknowledgements and two (2) copies of title page
¤ $25 entry fee
¤ Business sized SASE
¤ Stamped addressed postcard
¤ Postmarked between November 15 and January 15, 2010
Friday, August 28, 2009
Reminder: 08/31/09 Deadline: The 2009-2010 Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize
A Call For Manuscript Submissions by Filipino Poets
for
“The 2009-2010 Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize”
DEADLINE: August 31, 2009
POETRY MANUSCRIPTS: Poets may submit as many manuscripts as they wish. Each manuscript should be at least 48 pages long. Each manuscript should come with two cover pages: (i) a cover page with Title, Author’s Name, E-mail Address, Snailmail Address and Phone; and (ii) a second cover page with just the Title. (Manuscripts will not be returned so don’t send your only copy(ies).) We are only taking printed (not emailed) manuscripts. Manuscripts should be sent to:
Eileen Tabios
Meritage Press
256 North Fork Crystal Springs Road
St. Helena, CA 94574
U.S.A.
PRIZE: The winning manuscript will garner U.S.$500.00 for its author and be published by Meritage Press (www.meritagepress.com).
SUBMISSION FEE: None because Meritage Press prizes all poets…and we consider Poetry a Gift.
OPTIONAL: If you include $5.00 with your entry, you can get a free copy of the prior winning book, Jean Vengua’s PRAU ($5.00 covers U.S. domestic shipping/handling; if you wish to avail yourself of this offer and you live outside the U.S., email us first to discuss).
ELIGIBILITY: Poets of full or partial Filipino descent, living anywhere around the world. All such poets are encouraged to send your best work. Whether you’re an “emerging” vs “established” poet is irrelevant as judging will be based only on the merits of the submitted manuscripts.
JUDGING PROCESS: From the submissions, a group of Finalist manuscripts will be chosen by Eileen Tabios. From the Finalists, the winning manuscript will be chosen by Beatriz Tabios. Judging for the top winner will be done anonymously.
For more info: http://meritagepress.com/babaylan/?p=19
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Aimee Suzara: Events in September
From Aimee Suzara:
SAVE THE DATES IN SEPTEMBER!
I’ll be sharing my poetry at the following:
September 17, 6pm: Just Cause fundraiser, “Justicia” at Sweet’s Ballroom, Oakland. More info atwww.justcauseoakland.org. “JUST CAUSE OAKLAND (JCO) is a membership-based organization building a powerful voice for Oakland's low-income tenants and workers. Our mission is to create a just and diverse city and region by organizing Oakland residents to advocate for housing and jobs as human rights, and to mobilize for policies that produce social and economic justice in low-income communities of color.”
September 19, 7pm: APAture (Featured Artist), location TBA. More info at www.kearnystreet.org. “Kearny Street Workshop's APAture is an annual multidisciplinary arts festival showcasing the work of emerging Asian Pacific American artists. APAture's mission is to provide artists with an early experience presenting their work at a large event; to build audiences for emerging APA artists; to strengthen the sense of community among artists; and to raise awareness of the existence of and diversity within the APA arts community. APAture values community-building, ethnic and artistic diversity and collaboration across ethnic and disciplinary lines.”
Download Aimee's press kit here (PDF).
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Benito M. Vergara, "Pinoy Capital,' Reviewed by Kimberly Alidio
Review to be published in The Journal of American Ethnic History
Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City. By Benito M. Vergara. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008, vi, 232 pp. Cloth, $74.50, ISBN 1-59213-664-8. Paper,, $25.95, ISBN 1-59213-665-6.)
An excerpt:
Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City. By Benito M. Vergara. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008, vi, 232 pp. Cloth, $74.50, ISBN 1-59213-664-8. Paper,, $25.95, ISBN 1-59213-665-6.)
An excerpt:
Vergara emphasizes how Filipino immigrants define their identities through nation-based ideologies of obligation and loyalty. Even transnational media aimed at the Filipino middle-class in the Philippines and abroad perpetuate Philippine nationalism by arguing that emigration amounts to abandoning the nation to satisfy personal and materialistic interests. The discourse of belonging relies on making distinctions between those born in the Philippines and those born in the U.S., and also manifests in meanings attached to socioeconomic status. Most importantly, Filipino immigrants maintain a nostalgic connection to the Philippines and yet do not perceive the possibility of relocating there. While people, goods and information continue to flow into Daly City from the Philippines and Filipino immigrants send currency and commodities to the homeland, transnationalism remains fraught with conflict, social and psychological.Read more.
Kundiman for Melissa
From the Kundiman website:
On May 19, 2009, Melissa Roxas, 31, an activist and Kundiman fellow from Los Angeles who had been doing volunteer health work in Tarlac Province in the Philippines, was kidnapped along with two other health volunteers for a nongovernmental nationalist group called Bayan.
Let us participate in a community of cymbals through poems-- bringing noise and sound and outrage and unremitting memory to what has happened to Melissa and what continues to happen to activists and artists around the world who dare to take a stand against injustice. Let us encircle them, encourage them and fight for them. There is power when people agree to stand and speak together.
For more information on Melissa, Bayan and how you can help, click here and here.
For Kundiman for Melissa poems, click here (PDF).
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Romance of Magno Rubio (Minneapolis)
The Romance of Magno Rubio
by Lonnie Carter
directed by Orlando Pabotoy
Original Composition and Sound Design by Fabian Obispo
Orlando Pabotoy, who created the title role in the Ma-Yi Theater Company’s Obie Award-winning 2002 premiere, directs this lyrical story of Filipino farm workers in the 1930s. Magno Rubio (played by Mu Performing Arts and Guthrie favorite Randy Reyes) dreams of a romantic affair with a beautiful white woman while his mates deride his naivete. Based upon a short poem by prominent Filipino American poet Carlos Bulosan, The Romance of Magno Rubio is a beautiful exploration of the dreams and frustrations of a group of cooped-up immigrants told through romantic verse and Filipino traditional art forms.
September 5 – 27, 2009
Mixed Blood Theatre
1501 South 4th Street, Minneapolis
(click here for directions)
Tickets: $20 general $18 students/seniors
Call 612-338-6131
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Jeff Tagami at the Poetry Foundation Blog
My fourth post, “Jeff Tagami, ‘October Light’ (Kearny Street Workshop Press, 1987)” is up at the Poetry Foundation blog. Here’s an excerpt:
That’s the thing about Tagami; for him, the Central Valley is everything. A second generation Filipino American, he was born in Watsonville, and as a poet, activist, and educator, he’s remained very close to home, living, teaching, and raising his family with his wife, poet Shirley Ancheta there. Tagami’s loyalty to place and its people is one of his strongest traits as a poet.
As the son of field and packing shed workers, his poetry shows us very concretely and bluntly, this world of low wages, dangerous machinery taking fingers or an entire hand, isolated Filipino bachelors.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Reminder: Please Join Us at the Bayanihan Center for the PAWA Arkipelago Reading Series 08/23/09
Please join us for the next reading in the PAWA Arkipelago Reading Series
Where: The Bayanihan Center 1010 Mission Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco
When: Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Who: Penélope V. Flores, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Kevin L. Nadal, and Benito M. Vergara, Jr.
This event is free and open to the public!
Penélope V. Flores is a professor of education at San Francisco State University. She is an author, editor, and co-author of several academic and literary books, including Reflections: Readings for the Young and Old; Whisper of the Bamboo; Goodbye, Vientiane; Ethnomathematics, from the Abel to Tinalak; and The Philippine Jeepney, A Metaphor for Understanding the Filipino American Family. She has attempted to write the Great Novel-- Enrique: Magellan's slave and interpreter. It has metamorphosed into a historical novel. Lately it has shifted into a novel for young adults. Now she is convinced it would be a great children's book.
Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III is Associate Professor of Politics and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was appointed San Francisco Commissioner for Immigrant Rights and Mayor George Christopher Chair in Public Administration at Golden Gate University. He has received distinguished teaching awards from the National University of Singapore, Golden Gate University, and the University of San Francisco. He is the author of Filipino American Faith in Action: Religion, Immigration, and Civic Engagement (NYU Press), and co-editor of Religion at the Corner of Bliss and Nirvana: Politics, Identity, and Faith in New Migrant Communities (Duke University Press).
Kevin L. Nadal, Ph.D., is the author of Filipino American Psychology. He is a professor, psychologist, performer, activist, and author, who received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University in 2008. As an assistant professor of mental health counseling and psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice- City University of New York, he has published several works focusing on Filipino American, ethnic minority, and LGBTQ issues in the fields of psychology and education. A California-bred New Yorker, he has been featured on The Filipino Channel, the History Channel, Philippine News, and Filipinas Magazine. For more information visit www.kevinnadal.com
Benito M. Vergara, Jr. is the author of Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th-Century Philippines (University of the Philippines Press), and Pinoy Capital (Temple University Press). A graduate of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, he also has an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies and a PhD in Anthropology from Cornell University. He has taught in different universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and writes about movies at http://filmeyeballsbrain.com .
Where: The Bayanihan Center 1010 Mission Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco
When: Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Who: Penélope V. Flores, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Kevin L. Nadal, and Benito M. Vergara, Jr.
This event is free and open to the public!
Penélope V. Flores is a professor of education at San Francisco State University. She is an author, editor, and co-author of several academic and literary books, including Reflections: Readings for the Young and Old; Whisper of the Bamboo; Goodbye, Vientiane; Ethnomathematics, from the Abel to Tinalak; and The Philippine Jeepney, A Metaphor for Understanding the Filipino American Family. She has attempted to write the Great Novel-- Enrique: Magellan's slave and interpreter. It has metamorphosed into a historical novel. Lately it has shifted into a novel for young adults. Now she is convinced it would be a great children's book.
Kevin L. Nadal, Ph.D., is the author of Filipino American Psychology. He is a professor, psychologist, performer, activist, and author, who received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University in 2008. As an assistant professor of mental health counseling and psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice- City University of New York, he has published several works focusing on Filipino American, ethnic minority, and LGBTQ issues in the fields of psychology and education. A California-bred New Yorker, he has been featured on The Filipino Channel, the History Channel, Philippine News, and Filipinas Magazine. For more information visit www.kevinnadal.com
Benito M. Vergara, Jr. is the author of Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th-Century Philippines (University of the Philippines Press), and Pinoy Capital (Temple University Press). A graduate of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, he also has an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies and a PhD in Anthropology from Cornell University. He has taught in different universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and writes about movies at http://filmeyeballsbrain.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Maiana Minahal & Dani Montgomery with guests reading Aug 20 at 33 Revolutions (El Cerrito)
From Maiana Minahal:On Thursday August 20, hear some amazing poetry from Civil Defense writers and guest artists!!
Maiana Minahal | author of Legend Sondayo,
Danielle Montgomery | author of The Woman You Write Poems About, and fabulous guest poets & writers | Thea Hillman, jim saliba, Lily Chien-Davis and Tina Bartolome
Sharon Bridgforth writes of Legend Sondayo: "Cover to cover, this book is magic... A little-known Filipino folktale, spun on its queer ear... a most beautiful retelling."
Thea Hillman writes of The Woman You Write Poems About: "Faith rides shotgun with hopelessness, and at the last minute grabs the wheel, dropping us off at our destination: salvation."
8/20/09: Asian Pacific American & Latin@ Poetry Night at The Nest (Oakland)
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN & LATIN@ POETRY NIGHT
August 20 | 8-10 pm | The Nest | 200 2nd St Oakland, CA
FREE
OSCAR BERMEO | MAI DOAN | KENJI C. LIU | BARBARA JANE REYES | VICKIE VÉRTIZ
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Kularts Fall 2009 Calendar
Kularts has just announced their Fall 2009 schedule, which you can see here.
Rupert Estanislao at the Berkeley Poetry Slam TONIGHT!
Rupert Estanislao will be tonight's feature at the Berkeley Poetry Slam at the Starry Plough Pub 3101 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705.He will be reading new poems from his new chapbook, Nothing Divine, which will be released tonight.
(From his bio) Rupert is a member of the poetry trio, The Suicide Kings, and also performs with Proletariat Bronze, an Asian American spoken word collective. As a vocalist, he plays with the hardcore punk band Eskapo, and sings in both Tagalog and English on the topics of US imperialism to the Diaspora of their own people. Eskapo has played almost every venue in the Northern California and toured Southern California and Mexico. Their album titled Kalayaan (Liberation) is available at independent music stores throughout the Bay Area. He lives and writes in Oakland, CA.
If you haven't seen him perform, I highly recommend it.
CALL FOR ARTISTS - Filipino-American History Month
CALL FOR ARTISTS - Filipino-American History Month
We are seeking visual artists, installation artists, and performance artists (theatre, musicians, spoken word) for an exhibition in Sacramento, CA in October, celebrating Filipino-American History Month.
Submission Guidelines:
To apply, email a biography/resume, video and/or audio links, website/FaceBook or other applicable online supplementary material to:
FilipinoArt@gmail.com
Email subject line: Artists Submission/FAHM 2009 - Artist Name
Deadline: September 24, 2009
Those accepted will be notified by September 28.
For more information, contact:
FilipinoArt@gmail.com
We are seeking visual artists, installation artists, and performance artists (theatre, musicians, spoken word) for an exhibition in Sacramento, CA in October, celebrating Filipino-American History Month.
Submission Guidelines:
To apply, email a biography/resume, video and/or audio links, website/FaceBook or other applicable online supplementary material to:
FilipinoArt@gmail.com
Email subject line: Artists Submission/FAHM 2009 - Artist Name
Deadline: September 24, 2009
Those accepted will be notified by September 28.
For more information, contact:
FilipinoArt@gmail.com
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Kartika Review: online Asian-American literary journal seeks submissions
Kartika Review is accepting submissions for upcoming issues of our online Asian American literary magazine at
http://www.kartikareview.com/.
We accept: fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, poetry and visual art by Asian American artists.
We are a quarterly journal We read submissions all year. Simultaneous submission are okay, but please notify us immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere.
Full submission guidelines, including the email addresses for submitting work, are available at our website: http://www.kartikareview.com/submit.html
Kartika Review serves the Asian American community and those involved with Diasporic Asian-inspired literature. We scout for compelling Asian American creative writing and artwork to present to the public at large. Our editors actively solicit contributions from established virtuosos in our community in hopes their works here will inspire the next generation of virtuosos. We also want to promote emerging writers and artists we foresee to be the future powerhouses of their craft. Ultimately, Kartika strives to create a literary forum that caters to and celebrates the wordsmiths of the Asian Diaspora.
http://www.kartikareview.com/.
We accept: fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, poetry and visual art by Asian American artists.
We are a quarterly journal We read submissions all year. Simultaneous submission are okay, but please notify us immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere.
Full submission guidelines, including the email addresses for submitting work, are available at our website: http://www.kartikareview.com/
Kartika Review serves the Asian American community and those involved with Diasporic Asian-inspired literature. We scout for compelling Asian American creative writing and artwork to present to the public at large. Our editors actively solicit contributions from established virtuosos in our community in hopes their works here will inspire the next generation of virtuosos. We also want to promote emerging writers and artists we foresee to be the future powerhouses of their craft. Ultimately, Kartika strives to create a literary forum that caters to and celebrates the wordsmiths of the Asian Diaspora.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Rachelle Cruz on the 2009 PEN USA Emerging Voices Experience
The PEN USA Emerging Voices Fellowship program provided me with access into the literary world and the confidence to name myself “writer.”
Although I grew up writing poems and short stories, studied poetry during my undergraduate years, and taught creative writing to young people, I hadn't truly taken myself seriously as a writer until I became immersed in the literary community in Los Angeles through the Emerging Voices program.
The EV Fellowship challenges the idea of the writer creating in isolation, and seeks to promote community and access for writers from underserved and diverse backgrounds. I applied to the fellowship because I wanted to give my full attention to a project I started in college and was clueless about what to do next. I especially wanted a literary community that encouraged writers-of-color to write the stories that aren't often heard.
The fellowship seeks to surround emerging writers with a wealth of community resources. This is evident through the program's components: one-on-one mentorships with professional writers, leadership in community service, author evenings, public readings, master classes with a published writer, and free classes at the Writer's Program at UCLA Extension. The goal is to work on a manuscript ultimately resulting in The First Book.
It's the weight and specificity of The First Book that gave me a sense of purpose and drive to write my way in the dark. However, the community, which I found through the fellowship, helped me stay focused, especially when I felt daunted in the face of such a large project. As I began my work on a book of persona poems about the Philippine mythic creature, the Aswang, I received incredible support and feedback from teachers, the co-fellows who knew exactly what I was going through, and my mentor Laurel Ann Bogen who invited me to her household every week to write and chat.
From the beginning of the fellowship, the writing community I knew simply consisted of the seven other fellows and the PEN USA staff; however, I realized the sheer number of communities within the writing world and their overlap with each new author we met each week. From Janet Fitch (author of White Oleander) enumerating the many part-time jobs she held before writing full-time, to poet Eloise Klein Healy listing the different selves we must have as writers (the One Who Writes at Her Desk Vs. the One Who Sends off the Poems to Journals) in order to maintain a sense of sustainability, these authors opened their homes, fed us, and gave us something beyond advice: empathy. Through the author evenings, I learned that there is no one way to be a writer, and that there is quite a variety of how writers work.
Prior to the EV Fellowship, I never thought about the publishing process or any of the business that comes after writing. Adam Somers, the PEN USA Executive Director, compares the emerging writer to the indie band on the road, and advised us to always carry books, postcards, business cards in the trunk of ourcars. As we continued with our author evenings, I realized that many of them found creative ways to promote themselves, especially through the internet. Since the fellowship, I've been inspired to create and write in a blog about poetry a few times a week and buy a domain name for my website. Through Rafael Alvarado, host of the “Moe Green Discussion Hour”, I started my own radio show about writing called “The Blood-Jet Writing Hour,” where I'm able to interview writers I admire. In addition, our voice class with Dave Thomas taught us about how to perform our work, and prepared us for our public readings.
My experience with the fellowship ended with teaching weekend workshops for young people at 826-LA, a non-profit literary arts and education organization, along with my co-fellows. As our students performed their monologues, I realized how fluid our identities are as teacher, student, participant and leader as fully involved artists.
The Emerging Voices Fellowship focuses on fostering such artists, who constantly find ways to participate in existing communities, in addition to creating their own. As far as next steps, I'm moving forward with the 2009 Emerging Fellows in creating a writing group called MMIX. As I continue to keep the momentum going with my project, I can't wait to find more ways to lead and participate through MMIX and other literary organizations.
For more information about the Emerging Voices Fellowship, check out the PEN USA website: www.penusa.org or email ev@penusa.org.
Lysley Tenorio in Zoetrope
From Rashaan Alexis Meneses's blog:
Lysley Tenorio’s story, “Felix Starro” featured in Zoetrope’s Current Issue: The New Generation of Classic Short Stories:We were here to perform the Holy Blessed Extraction of Negativities on unwell Filipino Americans. Mrs. Delgado was our 153rd patient, but we treated her like the first and let her tell the story of her pain as if we had never heard it before. “It begins here”—she tapped her heart, then three spots on her stomach—”then here and here, sometimes here. Bastard American doctors tell me nothing is wrong, like I’m so old, so crazy-in-the-head.” Read more…
The Strange Case of Citizen Dela Cruz by Luis Francia 09/05/09 (SF)
The Strange Case of Citizen Dela Cruz by Luis Francia
Location: SFPL Main Library Koret Auditorium
Address: 100 Larkin St. (at Grove)
Library Sponsored Public Program
Event Date: Saturday September 5
Event Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Description: Staged reading of The Strange Case Of Citizen Dela Cruz, a new play by Filipino American author, Luis Francia. Co-Sponsored by Bindlestiff Studio, the premier Filipino American performing arts organization.
Location: SFPL Main Library Koret Auditorium
Address: 100 Larkin St. (at Grove)
Library Sponsored Public Program
Event Date: Saturday September 5
Event Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Description: Staged reading of The Strange Case Of Citizen Dela Cruz, a new play by Filipino American author, Luis Francia. Co-Sponsored by Bindlestiff Studio, the premier Filipino American performing arts organization.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Al Robles at the Poetry Foundation Blog
My first post, “San Francisco Poet Al Robles (1930-2009)” is up on the Poetry Foundation blog. Here is an excerpt:
Al Robles was an activist, at the forefront of the movement to stop the demolition of the I-Hotel, which housed elderly and low income tenants, many of whom we’ve come to know as the “Manongs,” elder Filipino Americans, or Pinoys, who spent their youths as migrant labor in West Coast agriculture and canneries, and as US veterans who fought in WWII. He brought young activists and artists to Agbayani Village in Delano, a rural settlement of these Manongs, and to the WWII Japanese American internment camps at Tule Lake and Manzanar. He believed it was important for young activists and artists to see these places with their own eyes, to hear the stories of these places firsthand. Robles’s activism was closely tied to his poetic work; in fact, his activism and poetry were one and the same. He believed poets should bring themselves into the world.
Call for Submissions: Self-Portrait issue of Poets and Artists (O&S)
From Didi Menendez:
If you have not sent in your poetry submission for the Self-Portrait issue of Poets and Artists (O&S), it is a good time to do so.
Send up to three self-portrait poems new not published before and not being considered by another editor to didimenendez@hotmail.com. Forward, tweet, facebook, blog about it but more important, send me your poem/s.
Thank you,
Didi Menendez
www.poetsandartists.com
Eileen Tabios: FOOTNOTE TO ALGEBRA
Footnotes To AlgebraUncollected Poems 1995-2009
by Eileen Tabios
· Paperback: 175 pages
· Binding: Perfect-Bound
· Publisher: BlazeVOX [books]
· ISBN: 9781935402046
Eileen R. Tabios is a prolific poet. In the past 14 years, she has released 16 print, four electronic and 1 CD poetry collections, an art essay collection, a poetry essay/interview anthology, a short story book and a novel. Yet these prior book releases do not capture the extent of her output. Spurred by the forthcoming release of her first "Selected Poems" project (THE THORN ROSARY, Spring 2010), she decided to look through her haphazard files and within hours was able to put together FOOTNOTES TO ALGEBRA, a new book from previously-uncollected poems written since 1995. These include a special trio of poems from a summer spent hangin' out with Philip Lamantia, the poem "Pygmalion's Embrace" which is a de facto architectural plan for a physical poetic space she is creating in Napa Valley terrain, her first (and so far only) translation of a poem into her birth tongue Ilokano, ekphrastic "baby poems", the poem "Justice" through which she'd achieved a goal of garnering for her wine cellar a jeroboam of the Judds Hill Winery cabernet by winning its annual poetry contest, and the series "Girl Singing" which generated 151 multi-genre responses or translations from 47 poets worldwide to create the anthology 1000 Views of "Girl Singing" edited by John Bloomberg-Rissman and released by Leafe Press (U.K.).
While the poems in this manuscript do not represent 100% of Ms. Tabios' previously uncollected poems (she's lost track of many poems through a poor filing system and a messy global e-desk), they provide an indication of the depth of the poet's commitment. The poet also hopes the new book is a source of reading pleasure.
Purchase your copy here.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
08/31/09 Deadline: The 2009-2010 Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize
The 2009-2010 Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize
Meritage Press, as sponsor, is pleased to announce
A Call For Manuscript Submissions by Filipino Poets
for
“The 2009-2010 Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize”
DEADLINE: August 31, 2009
POETRY MANUSCRIPTS: Poets may submit as many manuscripts as they wish. Each manuscript should be at least 48 pages long. Each manuscript should come with two cover pages: (i) a cover page with Title, Author’s Name, E-mail Address, Snailmail Address and Phone; and (ii) a second cover page with just the Title. (Manuscripts will not be returned so don’t send your only copy(ies).) We are only taking printed (not emailed) manuscripts. Manuscripts should be sent to:
Eileen Tabios
Meritage Press
256 North Fork Crystal Springs Road
St. Helena, CA 94574
U.S.A.
PRIZE: The winning manuscript will garner U.S.$500.00 for its author and be published by Meritage Press (www.meritagepress.com).
SUBMISSION FEE: None because Meritage Press prizes all poets…and we consider Poetry a Gift.
OPTIONAL: If you include $5.00 with your entry, you can get a free copy of the prior winning book, Jean Vengua’s PRAU ($5.00 covers U.S. domestic shipping/handling; if you wish to avail yourself of this offer and you live outside the U.S., email us first to discuss).
ELIGIBILITY: Poets of full or partial Filipino descent, living anywhere around the world. All such poets are encouraged to send your best work. Whether you’re an “emerging” vs “established” poet is irrelevant as judging will be based only on the merits of the submitted manuscripts.
JUDGING PROCESS: From the submissions, a group of Finalist manuscripts will be chosen by Eileen Tabios. From the Finalists, the winning manuscript will be chosen by Beatriz Tabios. Judging for the top winner will be done anonymously.
ABOUT THE JUDGES:
FOR FINALISTS: Eileen Tabios is a poet and the publisher of the multidisciplinary literary and arts press, Meritage Press (St. Helena and San Francisco, CA). She has released 16 print, four electronic and 1 CD poetry collections, a novel, an art essay collection, a poetry essay/interview anthology, and a short story book. Recent projects include a novel NOVEL CHATELAINE (TeenyTiny, 2009); a new poetry collection NOTA BENE EISWEIN (Ahadada, 2009) and a conceptual project disrupting the form of biography THE BLIND CHATELAINE’S KEYS (BlazeVOX, 2008). Forthcoming is her ROSARY OF THORNS: SELECTED PROSE POEMS 1998-2008, edited by poet-critic-painter Thomas Fink. In her poetry, she has crafted a body of work that is unique for melding ekphrasis with transcolonialism. Her poems have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Tagalog, Japanese, Portuguese, Paintings, Video, Drawings, Visual Poetry, Mixed Media Collages, Kali Martial Arts, Modern Dance and Sculpture. She blogs as the “Chatelaine” at http://angelicpoker.blogspot.com and edits GALATEA RESURRECTS, a popular poetry review journal at http://galatearesurrects.blogspot.com
FOR FINAL WINNER: Beatriz Tabios received her B.A. with English as her major from the Silliman University in Dumaguete, Philippines. She developed her love for poetry as a sixth-grader reading Homer, William Shakespeare, John Keats, Alexander Pope, William Wordworth and Samuel Coleridge while trying to survive World War II. She would further develop her appreciation for poetry as a college student instructed by poet Edith Tiempo, the first woman to receive the title of National Artist for Literature in the Philippines. The late Dr. Edilberto Tiempo, then the head of the English Department, encouraged Mrs. Tabios to continue her study of English and American literature. With Edilberto Tiempo’s encouragement, Mrs. Tabios wrote her Master of Arts thesis which was the first investigation, regarding Filipino literature, of “(The Use of) Local Color in Short Stories in English.” Later, she taught English literature at Dagupan College (now University of Pangasinan) and University of Baguio, before becoming a teacher at Brent School, a boarding school initially built for children from U.S.-American military, missionary and gold-mining families stationed in the Far East.
THE FILAMORE TABIOS, SR. MEMORIAL POETRY PRIZE:
From Mrs. Beatriz Tabios: “My late husband, Filamore Tabios, Sr., and I were absolutely delighted when our daughter Eileen started to write short stories and poems. In memory of my dearly beloved husband and her dearly beloved father, we would like to encourage Filipino poets by sponsoring this Memorial Poetry Prize.”
BOOK PRIZES:
Finalists also will receive a set of books including these selected Meritage Press titles:
THE HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY, VOL. II coedited by Jean Vengua and Mark Young.
PINOY POETICS: A COLLECTION OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL & CRITICAL ESSAYS ON FILIPINO AND FILIPINO-AMERICAN POETICS, edited by Nick Carbo.
THE LIGHT SANG AS IT LEFT YOUR EYES by Eileen R. Tabios.
SMALL PRINT: Meritage Press reserves the right not to pick a winner and hand out the prize.
*****
ADDITIONAL QUERIES may be directed by email to Meritagepress@aol.com
Friday, August 14, 2009
Reminder: 8/23/09 PAWA Arkipelago Reading Series @ the Bayanihan Center
Please join us for the next reading in the PAWA Arkipelago Reading Series
Where: The Bayanihan Center 1010 Mission Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco
When: Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Who: Penélope V. Flores, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Kevin L. Nadal, and Benito M. Vergara, Jr.
This event is free and open to the public!
Penélope V. Flores is a professor of education at San Francisco State University. She is an author, editor, and co-author of several academic and literary books, including Reflections: Readings for the Young and Old; Whisper of the Bamboo; Goodbye, Vientiane; Ethnomathematics, from the Abel to Tinalak; and The Philippine Jeepney, A Metaphor for Understanding the Filipino American Family. She has attempted to write the Great Novel-- Enrique: Magellan's slave and interpreter. It has metamorphosed into a historical novel. Lately it has shifted into a novel for young adults. Now she is convinced it would be a great children's book.
Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III is Associate Professor of Politics and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was appointed San Francisco Commissioner for Immigrant Rights and Mayor George Christopher Chair in Public Administration at Golden Gate University. He has received distinguished teaching awards from the National University of Singapore, Golden Gate University, and the University of San Francisco. He is the author of Filipino American Faith in Action: Religion, Immigration, and Civic Engagement (NYU Press), and co-editor of Religion at the Corner of Bliss and Nirvana: Politics, Identity, and Faith in New Migrant Communities (Duke University Press).
Kevin L. Nadal, Ph.D., is the author of Filipino American Psychology. He is a professor, psychologist, performer, activist, and author, who received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University in 2008. As an assistant professor of mental health counseling and psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice- City University of New York, he has published several works focusing on Filipino American, ethnic minority, and LGBTQ issues in the fields of psychology and education. A California-bred New Yorker, he has been featured on The Filipino Channel, the History Channel, Philippine News, and Filipinas Magazine. For more information visit www.kevinnadal.com
Benito M. Vergara, Jr. is the author of Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th-Century Philippines (University of the Philippines Press), and Pinoy Capital (Temple University Press). A graduate of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, he also has an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies and a PhD in Anthropology from Cornell University. He has taught in different universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and writes about movies at http://filmeyeballsbrain.com .
Where: The Bayanihan Center 1010 Mission Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco
When: Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Who: Penélope V. Flores, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Kevin L. Nadal, and Benito M. Vergara, Jr.
This event is free and open to the public!
Penélope V. Flores is a professor of education at San Francisco State University. She is an author, editor, and co-author of several academic and literary books, including Reflections: Readings for the Young and Old; Whisper of the Bamboo; Goodbye, Vientiane; Ethnomathematics, from the Abel to Tinalak; and The Philippine Jeepney, A Metaphor for Understanding the Filipino American Family. She has attempted to write the Great Novel-- Enrique: Magellan's slave and interpreter. It has metamorphosed into a historical novel. Lately it has shifted into a novel for young adults. Now she is convinced it would be a great children's book.
Kevin L. Nadal, Ph.D., is the author of Filipino American Psychology. He is a professor, psychologist, performer, activist, and author, who received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University in 2008. As an assistant professor of mental health counseling and psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice- City University of New York, he has published several works focusing on Filipino American, ethnic minority, and LGBTQ issues in the fields of psychology and education. A California-bred New Yorker, he has been featured on The Filipino Channel, the History Channel, Philippine News, and Filipinas Magazine. For more information visit www.kevinnadal.com
Benito M. Vergara, Jr. is the author of Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th-Century Philippines (University of the Philippines Press), and Pinoy Capital (Temple University Press). A graduate of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, he also has an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies and a PhD in Anthropology from Cornell University. He has taught in different universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and writes about movies at http://filmeyeballsbrain.
08/27/09 MANILATOWN IS IN THE HEART (Los Angeles)
From the Manilatown website:
Thursday, August 27, 2009 | 7:30PM
An encore screening of MANILATOWN IS IN THE HEART
Time Travel With Al Robles
"Best of the Fest" Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
National Center for the Preservation of Democracy
111 N. First St.
Los Angeles (Little Tokyo)
Thursday, August 13, 2009
News: Filipino theater space set to return to Sixth and Howard
From the SF Examiner:
Filipino theater space set to return to Sixth and Howard
By: John Upton
08/04/09 10:45 PM PDT
Filipino theater space set to return to Sixth and Howard
By: John Upton
08/04/09 10:45 PM PDT
Read more.A performing arts venue dedicated to the work of Filipino-American and other artists is set to open on the ground floor of a low-income apartment building in SoMa early next year, after funds were committed to the project on Tuesday.
A theater space in the Plaza Hotel at Sixth and Howard streets had been used by Bindlestiff Studio, a nonprofit dedicated to emerging Pilipino and Filipino-American and artists, until the 1920s building was demolished at the direction of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in 2003.
The nonprofit arts organization, which was founded in 1997, shifted to a temporary space on Natoma Street, but it was forced to vacate that space in 2006.
Bindlestiff Studio has been without a performing space for the past three years. Although space was set aside for it in the multi-colored Plaza Apartments building that replaced the Plaza Hotel, the Bindlestiff hasn’t raised the funds needed to convert the vacant space into a theater space.
On Tuesday, Redevelopment Agency commissioners unanimously voted to provide $52,000 to help Bindlestiff Studio pay for construction work and other tasks needed to create the theater space.
Review: Joseph O. Legaspi's IMAGO
From the Hyphen magazine blog:
In his foreword to Legaspi's debut collection, Imago, poet Philip Levine writes, "Legaspi, like William Carlos Williams, can find poetry anywhere. And like his mentor Pablo Neruda, he seems able to locate the mysterious and the magical in the most common and overlooked objects."Read more.
Imago is a lush and dense collection of poems, in which even the tradition of Filipino adolescent circumcision is infused with lovely details...
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Kevin Nadal: Northern California Appearances
You can also find this info at Kevin's webiste: http://www.kevinnadal.com/performances.php .
August 20, 2009- San Francisco, CA
Mercury Lounge
1582 Folsom St
San Francisco, CA 94103
7pm
August 23, 2009- San Francisco, CA
Bayanihan Community Center
1010 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94103
2pm
August 24, 2009- Fremont, CA
Fremont Public Library
2400 Stevenson Blvd
Fremont, CA 94538
7pm
August 25, 2009- San Jose, CA
Sonoma Chicken Coop
90 Skyport Dr. (at Technology Dr.)
San Jose, CA, 95110
7pm
August 26, 2009- Palo Alto, CA
Stanford University
433 Santa Teresa Street
(First Floor of the Old Firetruck House)
Stanford, CA 94305
5:30pm Reception
6:30pm Book Reading
August 27, 2009- Berkeley, CA
University of California Berkeley
Time and Location: TBD
Please spread the word if you can.
August 20, 2009- San Francisco, CA
Mercury Lounge
1582 Folsom St
San Francisco, CA 94103
7pm
August 23, 2009- San Francisco, CA
Bayanihan Community Center
1010 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94103
2pm
August 24, 2009- Fremont, CA
Fremont Public Library
2400 Stevenson Blvd
Fremont, CA 94538
7pm
August 25, 2009- San Jose, CA
Sonoma Chicken Coop
90 Skyport Dr. (at Technology Dr.)
San Jose, CA, 95110
7pm
August 26, 2009- Palo Alto, CA
Stanford University
433 Santa Teresa Street
(First Floor of the Old Firetruck House)
Stanford, CA 94305
5:30pm Reception
6:30pm Book Reading
August 27, 2009- Berkeley, CA
University of California Berkeley
Time and Location: TBD
Please spread the word if you can.
Review: Dorina K. Lazo's CORA COOKS PANCIT
From Shen's Books blog:
Papertigers has published a review of Cora Cooks Pancit in their August online issue. Here's what they had to say about it:
Papertigers has published a review of Cora Cooks Pancit in their August online issue. Here's what they had to say about it:
Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore adds another sensitive book about the immigrant experience for children to her growing catalog that includes Children of the San Joaquin Valley and Stone Soup: A Hmong Girl's Journey to the United States. After a few generations, it is clear that Cora's Filipino-American family is right at home in the United States and proudly maintaining cultural heritage as part of their identity.Click here to read the entire review at Papertigers.org.
Kristi Valiant's warm and colorful illustrations invite readers into Cora's clean and welcoming suburban home to share the sunny afternoon with Cora and her mother. The walls are brightly painted and adorned with paintings of tropical fruit. Brightly colored ceramics line cabinet shelves. The sun coming through the windows evokes a peaceful feeling, and personality is beautifully expressed in the clothing and gestures of the characters.
Cora Cooks Pancit is a lovely story about home, family, food, culture, growing up, and how all those things fit together. A glossary of terms and, of course, Lolo's pancit recipe are included at the end of the book, making culture come alive in the kitchen while empowering kids to participate.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
I-Hotel (SF): Presentation and Mural Workshop 08/15/09 with Johanna Poethig
Click on image to enlarge, for details:
I-Hotel Manilatown Center 868 Kearny Street • San Francisco CA 94108 • 415-399-9580
Michael Golamco's YEAR ZERO at Victory Gardens (Chicago)
YEAR ZERO: A world premiere
By Michael Golamco
Directed by Andrea J. Dymond
September 11 – October 18, 2009
Vuthy Vichea is a 16-year-old Cambodian American. He loves hip-hop and Dungeons and Dragons. He is a weird kid in a place where weirdness can be fatal: Long Beach, California. And since his best friend moved and his mother died, the only person he can talk to is a human skull he keeps hidden in a cookie jar.
Sharp, funny, and packing an emotional wallop, Year Zero is about being chased across an ocean by death, standing firm, and confronting it head on. An Ignition Festival standout, Year Zero subsequently won the Pacific Century Playwriting Competition at East-West Players, and is a finalist at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference. This touching family drama promises to be wonderful pick for Victory Gardens’ first world premiere in its intimate new 2nd floor Studio Theater.
By Michael Golamco
Directed by Andrea J. Dymond
September 11 – October 18, 2009
Vuthy Vichea is a 16-year-old Cambodian American. He loves hip-hop and Dungeons and Dragons. He is a weird kid in a place where weirdness can be fatal: Long Beach, California. And since his best friend moved and his mother died, the only person he can talk to is a human skull he keeps hidden in a cookie jar.
Sharp, funny, and packing an emotional wallop, Year Zero is about being chased across an ocean by death, standing firm, and confronting it head on. An Ignition Festival standout, Year Zero subsequently won the Pacific Century Playwriting Competition at East-West Players, and is a finalist at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference. This touching family drama promises to be wonderful pick for Victory Gardens’ first world premiere in its intimate new 2nd floor Studio Theater.
Michael Golamco's homepage is here.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Article: Michael Arcega
An excerpt from the Honolulu Weekly:
New heights
Michael Arcega shares his installation inspiration
interview by Marcia Morse
Jul 15, 2009
New heights
Michael Arcega shares his installation inspiration
interview by Marcia Morse
Jul 15, 2009
We’ve seen your work here before, in exhibitions at The Contemporary Museum, Nuuanu Gallery and the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Are there common themes that play through your work?Read more.
Yes, I think all of my work involves looking at polarized social hierarchies, and finding things embedded in those relationships. I am interested in asymmetrical power dynamics and what results from them. I usually focus on things I look at as cultural residues of those relationships, whether it is Spam [the food product from which Arcega fashioned a map], pidgin [an artifact of cultural mixing] or tents [featured in Overlook.] “El Conquistadork”–a model of a Manila galleon constructed from manila file folders–followed the trade route that bridged two cultures; “Eternal Salivation” addressed the relation between people that preach and people that listen.
"Appetites" by Marianne Villanueva
From Cafe Irreal, Issue 31:
When she was a girl, she ate crab, bitter melon, rice soup. She loved milkfish, which at that time was still abundant. The cook, who was as dear to her as her own mother, served her glutinous rice cakes, salmon cured with tamarind salt, grilled squid stuffed with chorizo, the meat of young coconuts.
When she was a toddler, cook cut everything into tiny morsels so that the girl’s mouth would not stretch and become wide and ugly. The girl ate only the sweetest pastries, the sweetest pickles, only the smallest and most tender eggplants: Cook herself grew these in a corner of the garden, which every summer sprouted with little trees with purple-tinged leaves.
You can read the entire story here.
VIDEO: Blue Scholars “HI-808″ dir. The Ohana
From Prometheus Brown:
[Edit: it looks like this video has been made private. You may be able to access it at the above link. Sorry for the inconvenience.]
[Edit: it looks like this video has been made private. You may be able to access it at the above link. Sorry for the inconvenience.]
Sister Outlaw by Lani T. Montreal (Chicago)
Circa Pintig (Chicago, IL)
Sister Outlaw
by Lani T. Montreal
August 13 to September 6, 2009
A comic yet touching story of Marina, a "femme Filipina" lesbian and Joey, a high spirited dyke who’s set to move heaven and earth to keep Marina in her life even if it means getting her brother Jason involved in this relationship of hidden love and unexpected liaisons. The three strike a deal each one discovering feelings unfelt and unsaid until bonding becomes deeper. Joey is stricken with jealousy as Marina and Jason get more intimate forcing Joey to confront her real feelings for Marina. Carrie, a ramp-swaying transgender friend of the family adds her wit and panache in analyzing the ensuing ‘love triangle’. The situation goes wacky when Joey and Jason’s Mother makes a surprise visit turning the whole event into a ‘coming out’ party for everyone.
Read more.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Joël Barraquiel Tan's TYPE O NEGATIVE: Reviewed By Marianne Villanueva
by Joël Barraquiel Tan
(Red Hen Press, 2008)
Reviewed by Marianne Villanueva
What lies in store for the reader of this collection? Bitter dreams, stuttering language, “papa’s kompadres” roaring and drunk, and that quintessential Filipino survival tool: denial, denial, denial. Tan’s childhood is a place where everything is bound up in secrets: sex, and love, and knowledge.
Imelda said that all she wanted in life was “truth and beauty” and now a whole country adopts that as its mantra: in a country where to be “tall white-skinned” is fortune, Tan is neither. But Tan is a boy, his “yonga’s first grandchild first son his” and therefore the “favorite grandson.” Double-edged sword: This emphasis on “when i become a man,” the “laughing father” who boasts that he knows how to pick them, ha? And he’s not talking of fish. The papa, the looming figure in all the poems, “ogling . . . all the giddy girls/ pretty suburban señoritas.”
The small boy, cowed, looks elsewhere for role models and finds epifania, his mother’s manicurist, “epifania a man with a woman’s name.”
He says, “& when I am a grown man” . . . “i will learn . . . molestation doesn’t mean mahal . . . “
The book asks: What is it to be a man? Son? Lover? Brother? Filipino?
Tan probes and probes and probes and, to his credit, provides no answers. All he offers is experience. The ecstasy and sadness of experience.
Tan writes that on his father’s deathbed “I warn him that mama’ll be there/ to reckon with him in the afterlife/ not to count on entering heaven’s gates/ without a scuffle” and the answer comes back “with a cool deathbed chuckle”: "you still don’t know a goddamned thing."
Friday, August 7, 2009
Amalia Bueno and Darlene Rodrigues on VONA
Today's blog post is a discussion/interview between Amalia Bueno and Darlene Rodrigues, who recently attended the 2009 Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA) creative writing workshops at the University of San Francisco. I asked them to share how their VONA experiences have helped them develop as writers, and as Pinay writers; how they decided to apply to VONA; the differences between the VONA community workshop and other writing workshops; the topic of mentors, and what they foresee as next steps in their writing.
DR: Amalia and I have a mutual friend, Beverly Mendoza, a writer from Chicago who moved to Hawaii in 2006, who told us about VONA. The three of us had been sharing our work with each other as a small group. Bev’s enthusiasm spoke to the growth she experienced as well as the support she needed as a writer of color.
AB: And she kept bugging us to apply. Darlene decided not to, but at the last minute I put together a poetry manuscript and fiction samples and got in to both workshops. That was 2007, when I took poetry with Willie Perdomo and fiction with Junot Diaz. I hadn’t heard of either of them, so I Googled them after I got in. To prepare for the workshop, I and nine other classmates had to upload our stuff and come prepared to discuss each other’s work. I was totally intimidated by the talent. But it turned out to be an incredible, intense, nurturing experience that changed my perspective about writing and being a writer.
DR: Yeah, Amalia came back all charged up. I was hooked and wanted to go. I figured I’d try a different setting for writing and to learn from people I admire. I was also lured by the 2008 workshop title, Political Content. I couldn’t believe that there’d be an entire workshop devoted to political content in creative writing and it didn’t matter the genre. It seemed I had found home.
AB: Home is exactly how VONA feels. You don’t feel like you’re the alien from another planet. Or the brown elephant in the middle of the room that everybody’s skirting around. You don’t have to explain yourself, why you’re writing about the fascinating nuances of your sharp-tongued lola, or elaborating on death rituals and micro socioeconomic stratification of Filipinos in Hawaii, or exploring perspectives that come out of a different cultural identity.
DR: I like the perspective of people I met at VONA. Their writing was grounded in their families, community, and global perspectives. This experience was really different from a graduate writing class I had taken at UCLA with a mixed bag of MFA students, PhD and MA students from different disciplines, and that was also mixed in terms of racial composition. The things I took for granted—a perspective as a person of color—was not discussed or if it was, it was dismissed. I found it hard to find common ground to jump off of to discuss the work we brought to class. My work could not be taken seriously because people were not getting the context. I realized that my work comes from a different historical, cultural and community experience than other writers. It’s different. It’s not inferior or exotic, just from a different viewpoint in the global and national landscape. My experience at VONA is so unlike the graduate writing class experience.
AB: You know, I’ve heard that so often from many VONA people who are currently in or have graduated from MFA poetry programs. That their work is the alien elephant in the room. Well, that makes sense because if 3% of all MFA program enrollees are people of color, the other 97% probably has little or no context to get your work. Was everybody mean and competitive, Darlene? I’m actually thinking about getting an MFA so I better start building up my immunity (laughs). At VONA everybody is pushing you to be a better writer, pushing you toward success. You’re not only writing, but reading, editing, learning about the realities of the publishing industry, rewriting, performing your poetry, networking with other peer writers, thinking about why you write, being mentored, getting personal, etc.
DR: I wish I could bottle the feeling of empowerment that comes over you on the first night at VONA when you realize that you are in a room full of people of color and you are all writers who are there to take the writing craft seriously. The defensiveness of needing to explain yourself drops away leaving a true open space to look at the work you need to do as a writer. That’s the value of this particular community experience. When Diem Jones stands in front of you and asks “Are there any writers in the room” and a reclamation occurs when everyone shouts out, “Me, I am a writer.” As a Filipina writer, there’s nothing like that at all. It’s like Lola’s tonic for the soul.
AB: And I’m still writing about my lola’s gin and tonic! Or was it Seagram's, the quintessential PI drink. Anyway, everyone at VONA is on the same page in terms of the trajectory of their work. The teachers are excellent, they really know their stuff, they have a broad perspective and are very well read. Your classmates are grounded in the history of their communities and cultures, as well as a sense of self and identity. The artifice is down so you can work on your craft. You’ve got mentors and peer mentors at VONA.
DR: I feel like my access to mentors grew immensely at VONA, not only with the workshop facilitators who are awesome writers but with my fellow participants. That’s one of the best outcomes of this recent experience, finding peer mentors who will help along the way. We’ve kept in touch with each other using a blog and challenging each other to writing for 10,000 hours as a goal.
AB: Yeah, mentors are really necessary for a writer’s growth. The feedback I received at the “Building A Poetry Collection” class this year was an eye-opener in terms of where I’d like my work to be. For example, it was helpful to hear that the people in my poems are “sharp, messed up, and loved.” That was a light bulb moment! I had no clue as to what was stringing them all together.
DR: I hope to publish a collection of poetry within a year. I’m thinking of submitting to small, independent presses such as Bamboo Ridge, Tinfish and others. I’m also working on a play as well.
AB: I want to write more good poems and make a conscious effort to submit and publish. I have a slim set of short stories that cries out to be a collection, so I’m shooting to get a dozen of them ready by early next year. And applying to grad school next February and VONA in the spring.
DR: I also hope to return to VONA and work with other facilitators and hone my craft even further. I would tell other Filipina writers to apply to VONA because of the quality of the teachers/facilitators and the fellow participants.
DR: Amalia and I have a mutual friend, Beverly Mendoza, a writer from Chicago who moved to Hawaii in 2006, who told us about VONA. The three of us had been sharing our work with each other as a small group. Bev’s enthusiasm spoke to the growth she experienced as well as the support she needed as a writer of color.
AB: And she kept bugging us to apply. Darlene decided not to, but at the last minute I put together a poetry manuscript and fiction samples and got in to both workshops. That was 2007, when I took poetry with Willie Perdomo and fiction with Junot Diaz. I hadn’t heard of either of them, so I Googled them after I got in. To prepare for the workshop, I and nine other classmates had to upload our stuff and come prepared to discuss each other’s work. I was totally intimidated by the talent. But it turned out to be an incredible, intense, nurturing experience that changed my perspective about writing and being a writer.
DR: Yeah, Amalia came back all charged up. I was hooked and wanted to go. I figured I’d try a different setting for writing and to learn from people I admire. I was also lured by the 2008 workshop title, Political Content. I couldn’t believe that there’d be an entire workshop devoted to political content in creative writing and it didn’t matter the genre. It seemed I had found home.
AB: Home is exactly how VONA feels. You don’t feel like you’re the alien from another planet. Or the brown elephant in the middle of the room that everybody’s skirting around. You don’t have to explain yourself, why you’re writing about the fascinating nuances of your sharp-tongued lola, or elaborating on death rituals and micro socioeconomic stratification of Filipinos in Hawaii, or exploring perspectives that come out of a different cultural identity.
DR: I like the perspective of people I met at VONA. Their writing was grounded in their families, community, and global perspectives. This experience was really different from a graduate writing class I had taken at UCLA with a mixed bag of MFA students, PhD and MA students from different disciplines, and that was also mixed in terms of racial composition. The things I took for granted—a perspective as a person of color—was not discussed or if it was, it was dismissed. I found it hard to find common ground to jump off of to discuss the work we brought to class. My work could not be taken seriously because people were not getting the context. I realized that my work comes from a different historical, cultural and community experience than other writers. It’s different. It’s not inferior or exotic, just from a different viewpoint in the global and national landscape. My experience at VONA is so unlike the graduate writing class experience.
AB: You know, I’ve heard that so often from many VONA people who are currently in or have graduated from MFA poetry programs. That their work is the alien elephant in the room. Well, that makes sense because if 3% of all MFA program enrollees are people of color, the other 97% probably has little or no context to get your work. Was everybody mean and competitive, Darlene? I’m actually thinking about getting an MFA so I better start building up my immunity (laughs). At VONA everybody is pushing you to be a better writer, pushing you toward success. You’re not only writing, but reading, editing, learning about the realities of the publishing industry, rewriting, performing your poetry, networking with other peer writers, thinking about why you write, being mentored, getting personal, etc.
DR: I wish I could bottle the feeling of empowerment that comes over you on the first night at VONA when you realize that you are in a room full of people of color and you are all writers who are there to take the writing craft seriously. The defensiveness of needing to explain yourself drops away leaving a true open space to look at the work you need to do as a writer. That’s the value of this particular community experience. When Diem Jones stands in front of you and asks “Are there any writers in the room” and a reclamation occurs when everyone shouts out, “Me, I am a writer.” As a Filipina writer, there’s nothing like that at all. It’s like Lola’s tonic for the soul.
AB: And I’m still writing about my lola’s gin and tonic! Or was it Seagram's, the quintessential PI drink. Anyway, everyone at VONA is on the same page in terms of the trajectory of their work. The teachers are excellent, they really know their stuff, they have a broad perspective and are very well read. Your classmates are grounded in the history of their communities and cultures, as well as a sense of self and identity. The artifice is down so you can work on your craft. You’ve got mentors and peer mentors at VONA.
DR: I feel like my access to mentors grew immensely at VONA, not only with the workshop facilitators who are awesome writers but with my fellow participants. That’s one of the best outcomes of this recent experience, finding peer mentors who will help along the way. We’ve kept in touch with each other using a blog and challenging each other to writing for 10,000 hours as a goal.
AB: Yeah, mentors are really necessary for a writer’s growth. The feedback I received at the “Building A Poetry Collection” class this year was an eye-opener in terms of where I’d like my work to be. For example, it was helpful to hear that the people in my poems are “sharp, messed up, and loved.” That was a light bulb moment! I had no clue as to what was stringing them all together.
DR: I hope to publish a collection of poetry within a year. I’m thinking of submitting to small, independent presses such as Bamboo Ridge, Tinfish and others. I’m also working on a play as well.
AB: I want to write more good poems and make a conscious effort to submit and publish. I have a slim set of short stories that cries out to be a collection, so I’m shooting to get a dozen of them ready by early next year. And applying to grad school next February and VONA in the spring.
DR: I also hope to return to VONA and work with other facilitators and hone my craft even further. I would tell other Filipina writers to apply to VONA because of the quality of the teachers/facilitators and the fellow participants.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
SF Filipino American Jazz Festival
From Carlos Zialcita:
Ticket Prices - finally! I don't know whay we have left them out on some of our advertising. My apologies. Tickets prices are $30 General Admission. $25 for Seniors, Students, YBCA Members and BART Riders. To order your tickets call 415-978-2787 or go to www.ybca.org Discounted tickets require ID - so these have to be purchased at the box office or at the door. This concert will be held on Saturday August 8th at 5pm at The Forum, in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 5pm. Their address is 701 Mission Street @ 3rd St., in San Francisco. Thanks very much for your support. See you at the show!
Mabuhay ang Pinoy Jazz!
Carlos Zialcita
Director, SF Filipino American Jazz Festival
info@sfpinoyjazzfest.com www.sfpinoyjazzfest.com
2nd Pinoy Jazz Fest
featuring Mon David, John Calloway, Anna Maria Flechero, Tateng Katindig
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Saturday August 8th @ 5pm
The Forum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT the YBCA Box Office 701 Mission StreetSan Francisco 415-978-2787 www.ybca.org
$30 General Admission
$25 for Seniors, Students, YBCA Members and BART Riders
Outdoor Performances during the 16th Annual Pistahan
August 8th and 9th @ 12:30 pm
Yerba Buena Gardens www.pistahan.net
featuring Raquel, Abe Lagrimas, Jr., Ann Marie Santos, Socorro de Castro, Parangal Dance Company, Al Manalo - MC
Festival Sponsors Include BART, ABS-CBN, KRON-TV, Donatello Hotel, Nurses Association, Sherman Clay Pianos, FANHS Bay Area, Pistahan, Jazz Phil, PAWA Inc., Fil Am Nation, US Asianwire
Ticket Prices - finally! I don't know whay we have left them out on some of our advertising. My apologies. Tickets prices are $30 General Admission. $25 for Seniors, Students, YBCA Members and BART Riders. To order your tickets call 415-978-2787 or go to www.ybca.org Discounted tickets require ID - so these have to be purchased at the box office or at the door. This concert will be held on Saturday August 8th at 5pm at The Forum, in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 5pm. Their address is 701 Mission Street @ 3rd St., in San Francisco. Thanks very much for your support. See you at the show!
Mabuhay ang Pinoy Jazz!
Carlos Zialcita
Director, SF Filipino American Jazz Festival
info@sfpinoyjazzfest.com www.sfpinoyjazzfest.com
2nd Pinoy Jazz Fest
featuring Mon David, John Calloway, Anna Maria Flechero, Tateng Katindig
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Saturday August 8th @ 5pm
The Forum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT the YBCA Box Office 701 Mission StreetSan Francisco 415-978-2787 www.ybca.org
$30 General Admission
$25 for Seniors, Students, YBCA Members and BART Riders
Outdoor Performances during the 16th Annual Pistahan
August 8th and 9th @ 12:30 pm
Yerba Buena Gardens www.pistahan.net
featuring Raquel, Abe Lagrimas, Jr., Ann Marie Santos, Socorro de Castro, Parangal Dance Company, Al Manalo - MC
Festival Sponsors Include BART, ABS-CBN, KRON-TV, Donatello Hotel, Nurses Association, Sherman Clay Pianos, FANHS Bay Area, Pistahan, Jazz Phil, PAWA Inc., Fil Am Nation, US Asianwire
SAT, AUG 22 – TAYO Launch Party to Celebrate the Community’s Writers & Artists
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2009
CONTACT:
Kristine Co & Melissa Sipin
Co-Directors
TAYO Literary Magazine
Email: tayoliterarymag@gmail.com
TAYO LAUNCH PARTY TO CELEBRATE THE COMMUNITY'S TALENTED WRITERS AND ARTISTS
HISTORIC FILIPINOTOWN, LOS ANGELES (July 2009) – TAYO, the first independent literary magazine dedicated to the creative expression of Filipino American youth, has finally arrived. Everyone is invited to the very first TAYO Launch Party on Saturday, August 22 at 6:00-9:00pm at Salakot Sizzle & Grill (2122 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles 90057). Along with showcasing the inaugural issue of TAYO, the event will feature open mic performances, an art gallery, and Filipino cuisine buffet-style. Please RSVP by emailing tayoliterarymag@gmail.com. Pre-sale tickets are $25 each and can be purchased online at http://tayolaunch.eventbrite.com/.
TAYO Literary Magazine aims to empower and bring together Filipino American youth through the many different forms of creative art. By gathering differing expressions of Filipino American identity, from high school students to full-fledge adults, TAYO paints an intricate anthology of the Filipino culture and community. It is presented by the Filipino American Library (FAL) and led by Co-Directors Kristine Co and Melissa Sipin. Sponsorship and advertisement opportunities are still available. Writers and artists who want to perform or display their work at the Launch Party should also contact TAYO by emailing tayoliterarymag@gmail.com. Please include in the subject header, "TAYO Launch - Open Mic" or "TAYO Launch - Art Gallery".
Founded on October 13, 1985 by Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown ("Auntie Helen"), FAL is the earliest and largest Filipino library in the country with a collection of over 6,000 titles. Its mission is to provide access to information and knowledge through the collection, preservation, and dissemination of a unique collection of Filipino American and Filipino reading material to those that seek knowledge. Through this collection and its community involvement, FAL seeks to provide access to cultural information and enrich America's diverse cultural tapestry. For more information, please visit www.filipinoamericanlibrary.org .
(For pictures to include for publication, please contact Kristine Co and Melissa Sipin as indicated above.)
July 24, 2009
CONTACT:
Kristine Co & Melissa Sipin
Co-Directors
TAYO Literary Magazine
Email: tayoliterarymag@gmail.com
TAYO LAUNCH PARTY TO CELEBRATE THE COMMUNITY'S TALENTED WRITERS AND ARTISTS
HISTORIC FILIPINOTOWN, LOS ANGELES (July 2009) – TAYO, the first independent literary magazine dedicated to the creative expression of Filipino American youth, has finally arrived. Everyone is invited to the very first TAYO Launch Party on Saturday, August 22 at 6:00-9:00pm at Salakot Sizzle & Grill (2122 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles 90057). Along with showcasing the inaugural issue of TAYO, the event will feature open mic performances, an art gallery, and Filipino cuisine buffet-style. Please RSVP by emailing tayoliterarymag@gmail.com. Pre-sale tickets are $25 each and can be purchased online at http://tayolaunch.eventbrite.
TAYO Literary Magazine aims to empower and bring together Filipino American youth through the many different forms of creative art. By gathering differing expressions of Filipino American identity, from high school students to full-fledge adults, TAYO paints an intricate anthology of the Filipino culture and community. It is presented by the Filipino American Library (FAL) and led by Co-Directors Kristine Co and Melissa Sipin. Sponsorship and advertisement opportunities are still available. Writers and artists who want to perform or display their work at the Launch Party should also contact TAYO by emailing tayoliterarymag@gmail.com. Please include in the subject header, "TAYO Launch - Open Mic" or "TAYO Launch - Art Gallery".
Founded on October 13, 1985 by Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown ("Auntie Helen"), FAL is the earliest and largest Filipino library in the country with a collection of over 6,000 titles. Its mission is to provide access to information and knowledge through the collection, preservation, and dissemination of a unique collection of Filipino American and Filipino reading material to those that seek knowledge. Through this collection and its community involvement, FAL seeks to provide access to cultural information and enrich America's diverse cultural tapestry. For more information, please visit www.filipinoamericanlibrary.
(For pictures to include for publication, please contact Kristine Co and Melissa Sipin as indicated above.)
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: THE CHICAGO FILIPINO AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
http://cfaff.org/2009/07/10/deadline-september-1-call-for-submissions-2009/
THE CHICAGO FILIPINO AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
The Filipino American Network of Chicago is now accepting submissions for the Chicago Filipino American Film Festival, November 6-8, 2009, at the Portage Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
The festival celebrates the works of cutting-edge Filipino and Filipino-American filmmakers.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Format: The Filipino-American Film Festival is seeking short and feature length works in the following categories:
Feature Length (over 61 minutes in length); Shorts (under 60 minutes in length); Documentary (feature-length and short); Music Video
No Entry Fee.
Eligibility: In order to qualify as an Official Selection at the 2009 Chicago Filipino American Film Festival, all entries must have a theme related to Filipino or Filipino American culture, or must have been created, acted, written, directed, or produced by Filipino or Filipino American artists or performers.
To submit your selection, download the entry form at http://cfaff.org/programming/cfaff2009entry.pdf and ship to:
CFAFF
516 N. Ogden #151
Chicago, IL 60622
For more information about the Chicago Filipino American Film Festival, please visit http://www.cfaff.org or contact Jonathan Laxamana at jlaxamana@cfaff.org
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Thymos.org: call for Submissions
For those of you "affiliated with Oregon," I found this via the Hyphen magazine blog:
From Book Editor Larry Yu:
Hey everybody. I know many of you have been waiting with great anticipation for this opportunity. Well, the day is finally here.
It’s your chance to contribute to the Thymos Book Project!
Thymos Anthology Call for Submissions
What does it mean to be an Asian American in the twenty-first century?
From the mainstream perspective, tired stereotypes about Asian people as model minorities, asexual techno-geeks, hypersexual dragon ladies, or perpetual foreigners still persist–though often concealed behind politically correct slogans like colorblindness and diversity.
One racial obstacle that Asian Americans thus face is the inability to claim an identity and culture that are defined by the Asian American community itself, rather than how mainstream society defines us. Whether it’s dealing with popular stereotypes or the effects of racism, many such issues ultimately stem from a lack of power.
This includes the power to express our lives, histories, and beliefs in a manner that is true to our lived experiences. And in an era where the media has vast influence to shape the very nature of Asian America for both ourselves and others, this is more important than ever.
With this book project, we are taking responsibility for telling our own stories. The project is an anthology that will compile the experiences of Asian Americans. We want people to tell their stories in their own words; communicate perspectives that challenge or transcend mainstream stereotypes; or simply relate something uniquely personal as an Asian American.
These experiences may be profound. They may be prosaic. But they always remain true to their source and inspiration.
We invite you to submit your story for our book project. If your work is selected, we will publish it in our forthcoming anthology with Oregon Poet Laureate, Lawson Inada.
Read more.
From Book Editor Larry Yu:
Hey everybody. I know many of you have been waiting with great anticipation for this opportunity. Well, the day is finally here.
It’s your chance to contribute to the Thymos Book Project!
Thymos Anthology Call for Submissions
What does it mean to be an Asian American in the twenty-first century?
From the mainstream perspective, tired stereotypes about Asian people as model minorities, asexual techno-geeks, hypersexual dragon ladies, or perpetual foreigners still persist–though often concealed behind politically correct slogans like colorblindness and diversity.
One racial obstacle that Asian Americans thus face is the inability to claim an identity and culture that are defined by the Asian American community itself, rather than how mainstream society defines us. Whether it’s dealing with popular stereotypes or the effects of racism, many such issues ultimately stem from a lack of power.
This includes the power to express our lives, histories, and beliefs in a manner that is true to our lived experiences. And in an era where the media has vast influence to shape the very nature of Asian America for both ourselves and others, this is more important than ever.
With this book project, we are taking responsibility for telling our own stories. The project is an anthology that will compile the experiences of Asian Americans. We want people to tell their stories in their own words; communicate perspectives that challenge or transcend mainstream stereotypes; or simply relate something uniquely personal as an Asian American.
These experiences may be profound. They may be prosaic. But they always remain true to their source and inspiration.
We invite you to submit your story for our book project. If your work is selected, we will publish it in our forthcoming anthology with Oregon Poet Laureate, Lawson Inada.
Read more.
Asia Literary Review
Asia Literary Review publishes the best contemporary writing from and about Asia. The print edition can be found in bookshops throughout Asia and in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Asia Literary Review publishes fiction, non-fiction, reportage, memoir, travel writing, literary essays, humour, documentary and themed photographic essays, photography, art and poetry from and about Asia.
Pieces should be a minimum of 3,600 words and may range up to 16,000 words. Shorter ‘sketches’ and ‘vignettes’ will be considered. ALR does not publish academic work, book reviews, or travel writing without a narrative focus. Excerpts and adaptations from longer works should stand alone, complete in their own right. Simultaneous submissions and translations are acceptable.
Submission guidelines are here.
Monday, August 3, 2009
PAWA Arkipelago Reading Series: Sunday August 23 at 2 pm
Please join us for the next reading in the PAWA Arkipelago Reading Series
Where: The Bayanihan Center 1010 Mission Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco
When: Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Who: Penélope V. Flores, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Kevin L. Nadal, and Benito M. Vergara, Jr.
This event is free and open to the public!
Penélope V. Flores is a professor of education at San Francisco State University. She is an author, editor, and co-author of several academic and literary books, including Reflections: Readings for the Young and Old; Whisper of the Bamboo; Goodbye, Vientiane; Ethnomathematics, from the Abel to Tinalak; and The Philippine Jeepney, A Metaphor for Understanding the Filipino American Family. She has attempted to write the Great Novel-- Enrique: Magellan's slave and interpreter. It has metamorphosed into a historical novel. Lately it has shifted into a novel for young adults. Now she is convinced it would be a great children's book.
Kevin L. Nadal, Ph.D., is the author of Filipino American Psychology. He is a professor, psychologist, performer, activist, and author, who received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University in 2008. As an assistant professor of mental health counseling and psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice- City University of New York, he has published several works focusing on Filipino American, ethnic minority, and LGBTQ issues in the fields of psychology and education. A California-bred New Yorker, he has been featured on The Filipino Channel, the History Channel, Philippine News, and Filipinas Magazine. For more information visit www.kevinnadal.com
Benito M. Vergara, Jr. is the author of Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th-Century Philippines (University of the Philippines Press), and Pinoy Capital (Temple University Press). A graduate of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, he also has an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies and a PhD in Anthropology from Cornell University. He has taught in different universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and writes about movies at http://filmeyeballsbrain.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Author Interview at Into the Wardrobe: Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore
This is a belated find: Quezon City based blogger Tarie interviews Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore, author of Cora Cooks Pancit:
What inspired you to write Cora Cooks Pancit? Why did you choose pancit over all the other yummy Filipino dishes?
I love to cook and consider myself an (amateur) multicultural chef. I originally set out to write a cookbook about traditional foods made in different cultures. I interviewed many people and families in my community. One woman I interviewed in Fresno was Rebecca Torosian. She is a Filipina married to an Armenian and she and her husband own Tory Farms. Rebecca told me some of her family’s heritage and about her father being a cook for the Filipino farmworkers. I used pieces of Rebecca’s story and fused it with my own experience growing up in the kitchen with my grandma Cora. Grandma’s specialties were pancit, chicken adobo, tanghon and lumpia. I chose to write a book about pancit because I knew it was a dish made all over the Philippines. The noodles give it universal appeal. My grandma is gone now and it was important to me to preserve the family recipe and the memory of cooking with Grandma Cora.
Read more.
What inspired you to write Cora Cooks Pancit? Why did you choose pancit over all the other yummy Filipino dishes?
I love to cook and consider myself an (amateur) multicultural chef. I originally set out to write a cookbook about traditional foods made in different cultures. I interviewed many people and families in my community. One woman I interviewed in Fresno was Rebecca Torosian. She is a Filipina married to an Armenian and she and her husband own Tory Farms. Rebecca told me some of her family’s heritage and about her father being a cook for the Filipino farmworkers. I used pieces of Rebecca’s story and fused it with my own experience growing up in the kitchen with my grandma Cora. Grandma’s specialties were pancit, chicken adobo, tanghon and lumpia. I chose to write a book about pancit because I knew it was a dish made all over the Philippines. The noodles give it universal appeal. My grandma is gone now and it was important to me to preserve the family recipe and the memory of cooking with Grandma Cora.
Read more.
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