WEALTH OF IDEAS

Last Saturday, June 23, I hosted poet Samuel Iniguez at the North Natomas Library. This was the first in a series of events to be held at the library until the end of July, co-hosted by Frank Graham and I. Sam Iniguez treated the audience to some of his best poems dating back to his graduate schools days in San Francisco. He was joined in the performance by two of his friends who are musicians. Samuel Iniguez and his wife arriving at the North Natomas Library for the inaugural reading of the 2012 International Poetry Tour. Iniguez's poetry deals with issues ranging from history, agency, self-determination, especially of his (Chicano) people, social justice, and they are search as well as a form of identitarian validation. As a teacher, Iniguez has been able to embrace for his poetry the unique experiences of his students, and he writes with a compassionate voice. Iniguez in action More information about the Series A set of five summer Saturday SPC literary eve...

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 resettlemen...

A beautiful and powerful collection! Every piece is painstakingly crafted with its own daring sword, cutting through the heart's sorrow. Here, poetry is liberation, and Burlee Vang is thus far our best Hmong writer!" — Pos Moua Burlee Vang is the winner of the 2010 Swan Scythe Press Chapbook Contest (Sacramento). His contest-winning book is The Dead I Know: Incantation for Rebirth . The book can be purchased from the Swan Scythe Press website -- www.swanscythe.com -- through PayPal, and is also available at Amazon Books. Burlee Vang's prose and poetry have appeared in Ploughshares, North American Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Massachusetts Review , and many other literary journals. His work has also been anthologized in Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers: Best New Voices of 2006 (Random House) and Highway 99: A Literary Journey Through California’s Great Central Valley (Heyday Books). He holds an MFA in fiction from California State University – Fresno....