Kartika Review: 2009-2010 Anthology

The nearly 400-page 2009-2010 Anthology of Kartika Review is now available.

Kartika Review launched in September of 2007 as a national non-profit journal in support of the Asian American literary and arts community. The journal publishes literary fiction, poetry, and essays that endeavor to expand and enhance the mainstream perception of Asian American creative writing.

See: http://www.kartikareview.com.

LANTERN REVIEW Issue 2 is now live!

From the LR editors:

We are delighted to announce that Issue 2 of Lantern Review is now live on our web site!

This tighter, more-streamlined volume contains 60 pages of extraordinary poetry and visual art, and features, for the first time, not only a page-bound sample of performance poetry (as part of our Community Voices feature), but also a special audio performance of that poem, which the artists recorded especially for LR.  Contributions to this issue include poetry by W. Todd Kaneko, Kenji C. Liu, Kathleen Hellen, Aryanil Mukherjee, Lek Borja, Wendi Lee, Aimee Suzara, Michelle Peñaloza, Rajiv Mohabir, JoAnn Balingit, Kimberly Alidio, and Marc Vincenz; as well as a range of beautiful photographic work, including a diptych of layered portraits by Bethany Hana Fong and the striking image of a blackbird by Anannya Dasgupta that appears on the cover.  Additionally, our Community Voices section in this issue features a profile of Sulu DC, as well as the collaborative poem mentioned above, which was created and is performed, in this issue, by three of the organization’s featured poets.

Before entering the issue, you might want to take a moment to check out our recommendations for optimum viewing, located here.  To listen to the audio in the issue, you’ll also need to have an updated version of the Adobe Flash player plugin installed, and will need to have Javascript enabled (more details and troubleshooting suggestions can be found on the issue’s masthead).  If you want to proceed to the issue right away, click here or on the cover image at the top left of this post. Issue 1 can now be accessed via the new “Archives” page on our main site.

We hope that you enjoy Issue 2!  As usual, we would love to hear any feedback that you might have regarding either its content or the [technical] navigability.  Please feel free to drop us a line any time at editors[at]lanternreview.com.

Many thanks for your continued support,
Iris & Mia
LR Editorial Board

02/08/2011: Buffalo Soldiers and the Philippine American War (Berkeley)

International House at U.C. Berkeley, a multi-cultural campus residence and program center, Presents Buffalo Soldiers and the Philippine American War, Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 7:30 p.m 2299 Piedmont, Berkeley. The program will include readings from the memoir Twenty-Five Chickens and a Pig for a Bride: Growing Up in a Filipino Immigrant Family by Berkeley resident and retired I-House Events Coordinator Vangie Buell. Vangie was born in California, raised in the East Bay and is the granddaughter of Buffalo Soldier Ernest Stokes. Her other writings are included in Seven Card Stud with Seven Manangs Wild: Writings on Filipino American lives, an anthology of Filipino American writers, and she is co-author of Filipinos in the East Bay (Arcadia Press, 2008).

There will also be a staged reading from the screenplay based on the Buell memoir, written by former I-House resident and Events Department staffer Jacquelyn Morgan. Morgan graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1989 with a Master of Journalism degree. The stage reading will feature I-House Resident and U.C. student Hanif Houston, Author Evelyn Luluquisen, and Film producer Marissa Aroy.

Scholar, author and U.C. Berkeley graduate Abe Ignacio will present a power point presentation on the Philippine American War, and the role of the Buffalo Soldier. Abe was honored with the Ethnic Studies Department Distinguished Alumna Award for his book "The Forbidden Book: Political Cartoons. Ignacio’s presentation will focus on David Fagen, an African American soldier who went to the Philippines as a soldier in the U.S. Army during the U.S.-Philippine War, but changed alliance a few months after his arrival in the Philippines to join the Philippine Army.

Noted playwright Jeannie Barroga will present excerpts from her play Buffalo’ed,and provide a power point history of the Buffalo Soldiers. Buffalo’ed will have its world premiere in 2012. Ann Fajilan, Asst. Professor of Theatre and Dance Dept. of CSUEast Bay, will direct the stage reading.

The Little Brown Brother Quartet, featuring Carlos Zialcita, Director of the San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival, and vocalist Anna Maria Flachero, will provide music throughout. Little Brown Brother, whose name is from a term used by Americans to refer to native Filipinos during U.S. colonial rule, was formed in 2006 by Zialcita and Ben Luis. The band’s music combines elements of blues, R&B, jazz, and Latin combined with traditional Filipino music to create a very rhythmic, and soulful sound. Anna Maria Flechero is from San Francisco and is the daughter of an African-American father and Filipino mother. Her music is a reflection of that multi-cultural and multi-ethnic background, drawing from soul, R&B, jazz, gospel, Latin and Latin-rock influences. She is an award winning songwriter and singer known for her highly personal style and improvisational skills.

Author, Writer Professor Oscar Penaranda, Ethnic Studies Filipino American History professor at San Francisco State University, will be the Emcee.

Contact: Vangie Buell 510 528-8177 Admission is free

01/29/2011: Rhymes & Rhythms at Manilatown

BIndlestiff Studio: STORIES HIGH 12: Director's Workshop is about to start...sign up now!

From Bindlestiff:

03/20/2011 - 1:00pm - 06/12/2011 - 1:00pm

Mint Mall (Lower Level) Bindlestiff Studio office, 953 Mission St. SF

Stories High 12 Directing Workshop- Don't miss this opportunity!

Ever dreamed of having creative rights over a piece and making it your own?

For 12 years, Bindlestiff Studio has offered affordable and professional theatrical workshops through its signature production, Stories High. These theatrical workshop aims to teach and refine the skills of beginning to intermediate theater artists with a focus on writing, acting and directing for the stage, culminating into an original, full-fledged theatrical production. Bindlestiff is very fortunate to have this year's workshop facilitated by John Caldon.

Please do not miss this opportunity to participate in this one-of-a-kind, affordable directing workshop!

IN ADDITION, Stories High 12 will be the first full-run production premiering as part of the Grand Opening of the NEW Bindlestiff Studio theater in its original location on Sixth Street @ Howard St.! Be a part of long anticipated, historical event!

Read more.

02/04 - 02/24/2011: KSW's A Sensory Feast

http://kearnystreet.org/2010/12/a-sensory-feast/

01/26/2011: Pati Poblete in conversation with Ben Pimentel

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Gemma Nemenzo
       filbookfest@yahoo.com   
       (510) 415-2857

PATI POBLETE BEGINS “CONVERSATIONS WITH FILIPINO AUTHORS” SERIES

What happens when two sets of Filipino grandparents descend upon a Filipino American girl’s home? There’s bound to be chaos and confusion, for sure -- especially when the supernatural gets into the picture. But there’s also a lot of loving, Filipino style -- and we all know what that means.

Pati Navalta Poblete talks about her memoir, “The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America,” with fellow author, Ben Pimentel, on Wednesday, January 26, 6 p.m., at the Pinole Library, 2935 Pinole Valley Road., Pinole, CA. Admission is free. Check out Poblete’s blog at http://patipoblete.blogspot.com to read more about the book.

Prior to joining Global Footprint Network as World Outreach and Media Director, Poblete was a journalist for 15 years, working as a columnist and editorial writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, deputy editorial page editor for the Honolulu Advertiser and staff editor at  numerous Bay Area daily newspapers. Her yearlong editorial series on foster care reform in California for the San Francisco Chronicle helped lead to numerous changes in the state law, and won her numerous national awards, including first place in the National Headliners Award, Scripps Howard National Journalism Award, Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Chi Award and the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. Pati was also the Chronicle’s nominee for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing in 2006 and 2007.

Poblete’s event marks the first of a series of “Conversations with Filipino Authors,” to be held in various Bay Area libraries as a build-up to the first Filipino American International Book Festival on October 1 and 2, 2011 at the San Francisco Public Library. Sponsored by the Literacy Initiatives International Foundation (LIIF) in cooperation with the Philippine Consulate of San Francisco and the Filipino American Center of the San Francisco Public Library, the book festival will gather Filipino authors based in the U.S., the Philippines and other countries, as well as Philippine and U.S. publishers, librarians, book dealers, academics, and artists.

Call for Submissions: Mandala

Mandala Journal Submissions Deadline: January 31, 2011

Mandala Journal seeks submissions of original poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art for the 2011 issue, "Reconciliation." Complete submission guidelines and information about this year's theme may be found on the site: http://mandala.uga.edu/

Mandala Journal is an online, student-run multicultural journal for poets, writers, artists, and thinkers published by the Institute for African American Studies at The University of Georgia. Since the online launch in April 2010, the journal's audience has grown to include readers in fifty-six countries and territories around the world.

Please note that due to weather issues earlier this month, the submissions deadline has been extended to January 31, 2011.

01/29/2011: Eth-Noh-Tec's Salon, You're On!

http://www.ethnohtec.org/2011/01/17/january-29-salon-youre-on/

01/22/2011: Book Launching of "Way of the Ancient Healer" & "Filipino Tattoos"

From Arkipelago Books:

Join us for our first book reading of 2011!

WHAT: Book Launching of  Way of the Ancient Healer: Sacred Teachings from the Philippine Ancestral Traditions  by Virgil Mayor Apostol and "Filipino  Tattoos: Ancient to Modern"  by Lane Wilcken

WHEN: Saturday, January 22, 2011, at 5:45pm

WHERE: ARKIPELAGO Books, 1010 Mission Street, @6th St., San Francisco,
CA94103

Way of the Ancient Healer: Sacred Teachings from the Philippine Ancestral Traditions by Virgil Mayor Apostol

Preserving the ancient wisdom of an extraordinary culture, Way of the Ancient Healer reveals the creative power that lies beyond the limits of our everyday awareness.  This book provides a comprehensive overview of traditional healing practices in the Philippines,exploring their origins, world influences, and the role in daily life. Author Virgil Mayor Apostol, a descendant of a long line of Filipino healers, blends historical research with detailed descriptions of the spiritual belief system modern-day healing rituals, Apostol discusses his own shamanic healing experiences and presents examples of sacred practices that have developed from the concept that everything in nature contains a soul or spirit.

(ISBN 978-155643-941-4, paperback, 310 pages, US$19.95)

"A brilliant account of the ancient Filipino healing arts written by one of its authentic practitioners and teachers.  Essential reading for anyone interested indigenous health and healing."- Bradford P. Keeney, Ph.D., Author of The Bushman Way of Tracking God: The Original Spirituality of the Kalahari People and Shaking Medicine: The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement

 "..A fascinating cross-cultural exploration of the nature of health, illness, and healing in the Philippine tradition that will be of special interest to those reconsidering the methodologies of traditional shamans for healing and problem-solving." - Hank Wesselman, Ph. D., Anthropologist, and author of Spiritwalker: Messages from the Future and coauthor of Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation

Filipino Tattoos: Ancient to Modern by Lane Wilcken

This is the first serious study of Filipino tattoos, and it considers early accounts from explorers and Spanish-speaking writers. The text presents Filipino cultural practices connected with ancestral and spiritual aspects of tattoo markings, and how they relate to the process and tools used to make the marks. Through the fascinating text and over 200 images, including color photographs and design drawings, the deep meanings and importance of these markings becomes apparent.

(ISBN 978-076433-6027,hardcover, 176 pages, US$39.95)

All ARKIPELAGO BOOKS sponsored events are FREE and open to the public

For more information:   Arkipelago Books, 1010 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94103

Tel. No. (415) 553-8185, Fax No. (415) 553-8176

Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Arkipelago-Books/124025177423

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arkipelagobooks

Email: arkipelagobooks@yahoo.com      http://www.arkipelagobooks.com

01/23/2011: Cultural Artist to begin Art Exhibition at Bay Area Art Gallery

From Baybayin.com:

Cultural Artist to begin Art Exhibition at Bay Area Art Gallery:

Linen Life Gallery is proud to present artist, Christine Balza. The reception will be held on January 23, 2011 at 6 – 9 pm at, 770 East Fourteenth Street Downtown San Leandro, CA and is free and open to the public

Christine Balza’s mixed media on canvas, ceramic, and jewelry, amongst others, expresses her Filipino-American experiences. Inspired by a long, lost script, Baybayin, Christine brings ancient expressions forward to modern day.

Baybayin script is a writing system not actively used since the 1800’s. The pre-Spanish symbols were used for commerce, a means of messaging neighboring villages of current events and can be dated as far back as 900ad. Baybayin lost favor to Roman alphabet and eventually was considered obsolete. Christine Balza use of art to awaken others curiosity to little known cultural traditions and follows up with workshops and seminars (TBA) on the basic use of Baybayin. She has been interviewed by Sharon Chin of CBS-5 and Henni Espinosa of Balitang America, TFC

*Biography and photographs of Christine Balza and her art work are available upon request. www.suku-art.com

Linen Life Gallery is located 770 East Fourteenth Street Downtown San Leandro, CA and has been nominated for a “Shine a Light Award.” Owner, Darrell F. Robinson has relocated the gallery from Emeryville, CA to its current address. www.thelinenlifegallery.com

Christine Balza of Dublin, CA is available for interview. Please contact email suku@suku-art.com

01/12/2011: BINDLESTIFF'S Wordy Word Wednesdays

Wordy Word Wednesdays:

Time:

01/12/2011 - 7:00pm - 02/23/2011 - 9:00pm

Location:

Mint Mall lower level - 953 Mission St. btw 5th & 6th SF

Wordy Word Wednesdays returns...

Beginning next Wednesday, January 12th and every Wednesday until the end of February, Bindlestiff Studio's popular open mic series WORDY WORD WEDNESDAYS will once again set up the mic for writers, comics, poets, musicians or anyone who has wants to hear their newly written plays, material, songs, poems....WORDS!

Sign ups start at 7pm so bring what you wrote and let's hear it.

Call for Poetry Submissions from Women of Color: Mujerez de Maiz's "Soldadera de Amor" Issue

From Asia Writes:

Deadline: 31 January 2011

Calling all creative women of color! In honor of Women, let us publish your expressions in our annual community arts and poetry maga-ZINE!

Submissions should be concerned with the following theme:

Soldadera de Amor (Soldier of Love)

Complimentary Zine for those who are chosen!

All languages welcome.

Although we will have an editing committee to oversee this project, please make sure all written entries are well edited including grammar, spell check, etc.

GUIDELINES

Submission should be related to this year’s theme: Soldadera de Amor (‘Female’ Soldier of Love). Poetry, essay, or prose in 300 words or less. All languages welcome. Although we will have an editing committee to oversee this project, please make sure all written entries are well edited including grammar, spell check, etc.

1. Fill out POETRY Sub Form Completely

2. Save form FILE NAME: WRITER'S FULL NAME

Note: please do not save as a .docx file! Please save file as a word document that can be read by a mac and pc computer.

3. Send completed form as email attachment to margaret.alarcon@yahoo.com

Email Subject: ZINE 2011 POETRY: (ARTISTS FULL NAME)

For questions or concerns please contact: margaret.alarcon@yahoo.com

Call for Submissions: Women of Color Anthology - Boundaries & Borders

From Poets & Writers:

“BOUNDARIES & BORDERS.” The Women of Color Writers’ Community seeks un-published writing, in all genres, and visual arts. We invite WOC authors to submit their own broad interpretations of the theme, that may show the inside, outside, and in-betweens of things that limit and confine, challenge or force conformity. Deadline March 11, 2011. Fee $10. Guidelines: www.wocwriters.com.

KSW: 8th Annual Intergenerational Writers Lab

8th Annual Intergenerational Writers Lab:

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Three of San Francisco’s community-based arts organizations, Kearny Street Workshop, Intersection for the Arts and Amate: Women Painting Stories seek applications for the 8th annual Interdisciplinary Writers Lab (IWL), a literary program for emerging writers, scheduled to take place April 3 – May 22, 2011. Twelve students will be selected to participate in the literary program which will involve a series of workshops, a public reading, and an online anthology publication. IWL workshops will be led by Brenda Wong Aoki, Jaime Cortez, Erika Lopez and one other instructor to be announced (check back in Jan). The IWL will conclude with a public reading in early July at Intersection 5M

Application Deadline: Applications must be postmarked by or on February 18, 2011. Dropped-off applications must be received by 5pm on February 18, 2011.

The goals of the IWL program include the following:

1. to provide 12 local emerging writers/artists with the opportunity to challenge, develop, and expand their practice by working with established writers in a variety of genres;
2. to contribute to the development of new literary forms and language that incorporate multiple forms of creative expression;
3. to provide emerging artists with the opportunity to create community by connecting and working with each other and with established writers in the literary world;
4. to provide the larger community with an opportunity to engage with new work and new explorations of form and language;
5. to publish an online anthology that highlights work by exciting new writers committed to exploring new forms and voices.

Reminder: Kundiman Prize Accepting Entries until 02/11/2011

Introduction
Kundiman and Alice James Books are accepting submissions of poetry manuscripts for The Kundiman Poetry Prize electronically and by regular mail through February 11, 2011. 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 $1000, book publication and a New York City feature reading.
Alice James Books is a cooperative poetry press with a mission is to seek out and publish the best contemporary poetry by both established and beginning poets, with particular emphasis on involving poets in the publishing process.

Guidelines for Electronic Manuscript Submission
Kundiman and Alice James Books are pleased to announce that, in addition to submitting your manuscript via regular mail, you may now enter your manuscript to The Kundiman Prize electronically.

Click on this link to submit electronically to The Kundiman Prize.

New Book: Eileen R. Tabios: Silk Egg — Collected Novels

From Shearsman Books:

Eileen R. Tabios: Silk Egg — Collected Novels
Paperback, 132pp, 8.5x5.5ins, £9.95 / $17 / C$18.50
ISBN 9781848611436

Last century, I temporarily borrowed Jorge Luis Borges' chatelaine. I slipped off a certain key and made a copy before I returned it to its chains and the old man (OMG: can he ever snore!). Since then, I've been able to slip into Jorgie's Library of Babel whenever I wished—that permanent stain on the 7th floor's limestone windowsill was from the d'Yquem I'd carelessly spilled from my treasured wine glass (stolen previously from Vermeer). About a year after I wrote all of the novels that comprise SILK EGG, I returned to the Library of Babel's 7th floor with a bottle of Ajax cleanser ("stronger than dirt!") that I'd hoped would work this time in erasing proof of my unpermitted visitations: that hardened pool of "nectar of the gods" ever winking out a small sun from the bibliophilic dimness. It was during this yet again failed attempt at the domestic arts that I also stumbled across a book whose spine mirrored the color of the sweet liquid I'd spilled; I do love this wine's color—an apt symbol of enlightenment among Buddhists. I pulled out the book from the shelf, blew off the dust, opened it, and discovered there the same words that comprise SILK EGG. However, the novels were contextualized by the book's title: INEVITABLE GIBBERISH. I dispute the Library of Babel's context—but there's no need to take my word for it: I've decided to release SILK EGG to the public and have readers judge whether these novels are more than the leavings from more acceptable narratives as authors strive to use every letter, space and punctuation mark in every possible combination. (Eileen R. Tabios)

"The genius of Eileen R. Tabios is as generous as it is manifold. Reading Silk Egg, I suddenly feel myself becoming more perceptive, fantastical, mordant, impassioned, and artful. Just like the book itself. Read it, and the same can happen to you." —Barry Schwabsky

Review: Barbara Jane Reyes's 'Diwata'

Thank you to Monica Mody of Lantern Review for her review of Diwata:

Diwata by Barbara Jane Reyes | BOA Editions 2010 | $16

In Poeta in San Francisco, Barbara Jane Reyes’ previous book, diwata was someone “elders say” had once “walked on earth” before the “the nailed god came” (30). These are the traces and rumors from which the titular Diwata of her latest book is resurrected. Then, like slippery oral art, like slips of the tongue, creation stories about men, women, and diwata—a god or spirit in Philippine mythology—are made up and told again and again. The poems in Diwata draw also on, and retell, Judeo-Christian creation narratives, introduced and enforced in the Philippines by the Spanish colonial regime. These retellings of myths and folk tales become a modality through which ahistory is rendered into history, history itself is investigated, and variations of diwatas, their quarries, and their hunters are revealed as inhabiting multiple narrative, linguistic, and cultural sites.

A globe our size, where migrations, displacements, and diasporas have become fairly common, and networked space-time has become a given for its globalized areas, is increasingly in need of transnational, translingual, transcultural mythologies. Diwata is one such transmission, in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. While most poems in the book take the form of story, it also has songs, couplets, pantoums that pick up the motifs of repetition and variation, creating a sinuous overlapping sonic rhythm.

Read more.

01/14/2011: Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora Anthology Fundraiser (SF)