FRESNO HMONG WRITERS PUBLISH HISTORIC LITERARY ANTHOLOGY

This event already happened on Friday, October 21, but I feel it is important to mention it here. I have been waiting for this book since poet Burlee Vang mentioned it earlier this year. It's a landmark text in Hmong-American literature. I will be posting updates about how the event went.


FRESNO HMONG WRITERS PUBLISH HISTORIC LITERARY ANTHOLOGY FEATURING POETRY, FICTION AND NON-FICTION

Event to celebrate the official release of How Do I Begin?: A Hmong American Literary Anthology

WHAT:
The Hmong American Writers’ Circle (HAWC) will host a free community launch event to celebrate the historic release of How Do I Begin?: A Hmong American Literary Anthology published by Heyday. The event will feature opening remarks from local writer and farmer, David Mas Masumoto, along with music and readings from the book.

How Do I Begin? is the struggle to preserve the Hmong American experience and explores issues of cultural identity, war and resettlement, adaptation to a new homeland, among others. The historic book serves as the first-ever anthology to feature the Central Valley and its growing community of Hmong American writers.

WHEN:
Friday, October 21, 2011 from 7-9pm, reception with light refreshments and book signing from 9-10pm

WHERE:
Tower Theatre, 815 E Olive Ave in Fresno (Olive and Wishon in the Tower District)

WHO:
The general community is invited to attend.

INFO CONTACT:
Andre Yang (559) 942-8335
hmongwriters@gmail.com
www.hmongwriters.org

This event is made possible with support from The Fresno Regional Foundation, Educational Employees Credit Union, Pacific Gas & Electric, Ellen Bush in memory of Kathryn, the California Endowment, Cultural Arts Rotary Club of Fresno, Central California Asian Pacific Women, Yang Design, and Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

HAWC was founded in 2004 as a forum to discover and foster creative writing in the Hmong American community. HAWC coordinates monthly writing workshops, and provides creative support to emerging Hmong American writers in the Central Valley.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abuja Writers' Forum Call for Submissions

Wordsbody has announced the following call for submissions: CAVALCADE literary journal, devoted to publishing original stories, poems,one-act plays, reviews, critical essays and art from an African perspective,will debut in October 2008 with a special edition. The tri-annual journal, a project of the Abuja Writers' Forum (AWF), is now seeking submissions for the second and third editions. Deadline: October 30, 2008 See more details here: Contribute to Cavalcade.
Read more

Roland Mhasvi's Flowers

Image
This is the cover of my copy of Roland Masvi's Flowers of Yesterday, a collection I reviewed in 1996 for The Herald. I was going through my old stuff when I saw this book in my old collection.  As I was flipping through the pages, I saw the cut-out for the original review, which in part reads: "This is a collection of highly esoteric poetry..., which can be charged of what Afrocentric scholars have described as 'piles of esoterica and ostentatious erudition'... The language is to the ordinary reader opaque, the imagery is inaccessible and the symbolism is surprisingly unusual but invitingly novel...real food for scholars."   The review just reminds me of the Chinweizu days, when we, as university students, had rediscovered African literature and its theory. Talking about Afrocentricity had a certain appeal, and we were looking at a lot of writing through the lenses of this newly-discovered Afrocentricity. Looking back, perhaps there was more in Mhasvi's poe
Read more

FREEDOM, a poem on South Africa by Afzal Moolla

Freedom The shackles have been cast off. Chains broken. People once squashed, under the jackboot of Apartheid, are free. Free at last! Freedom came on the 27th day in that April, 1994. Freedom from prejudice. From institutionalised racism. From being relegated to second-class citizenship. Freedom came and we danced. We cried. We ululated as we elected our revered Mandela. President Nelson Mandela. Our very own beloved 'Madiba'. Black and white and brown and those in-between, All hues of this rainbow nation, rejoiced as we breathed in the air of freedom and democracy. Today we pause. We remember. We salute. The brave ones whose sacrifices made this day possible, on that 27th day of April, 18 years ago. Today we dance. We sing. We ululate. We cry. Tears of joy and tears of loss. Of remembrance and of forgiveness. Of reconciliation and of memories. Today we pause. We acknowledge the tasks ahead. The hungry. The naked. The destitut
Read more