8+1: A Symposium, Voices from the Asian American Literary Review

When: May 7, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Where: Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St., Los Angeles

Renowned and emerging Asian American and Asian Canadian writers will converge at the Japanese American National Museum on May 7 for a day-long celebration of contemporary literature. ACWW's Ray Hsu will be joining fellow Canadian Joy Kogawa in Los Angeles.

8+1: A Symposium, Voices from the Asian American Literary Review will feature Joy Kogawa (Obasan), Kip Fulbeck (Part Asian, 100% Hapa), Rishi Reddi (Karma and Other Stories), R. Zamora Linmark (Leche, Rolling the R’s), Reese Okyong Kwon (short fiction writer, recently named one of Narrative’s “30 Below 30” writers), Viet Nguyen (Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America), Hiromi Ito (Killing Kanoko) with award-winning translator Jeffrey Angles, and Los Angeles native Brian Ascalon Roley (American Son).

These writers reflect the richness and complexity of the Asian American literary landscape. With family roots in Japan, India, the Philippines, Korea, China, and Viet Nam, these writers touch upon fluid identities and communities, erased histories, and linguistic and cultural alienation. Their work ranges from delicate to expressive, experimental to moral.

The symposium will include paired readings, Q&A sessions and book signings. The public may attend any or all of the readings.

Event sponsors include: Japanese American National Museum, UCI Center for Writing and Translation, USC Asian American Studies Program, UCLA Asian American Studies Center, UCLA English Department and UCLA Friends of English, Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association, Coffee House Press, Hyphen Magazine, Philippine Expressions Bookshop, Kaya Press, Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, Giant Robot, Asian American Journalists Association—Los Angeles Chapter, Audrey Magazine, Asian Arts Initiative, Calypso Press, Asian Pacific American Studies at Loyola Marymount University, Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, and Japan America Society of Southern California. This event is supported by Poets and Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.

For a symposium schedule and full author bios, visit http://www.aalrmag.org/symposium

ACWW's Ray Hsu will read as part of 125 Readings: "4 poets, 10 hours, 13 kilometers, 125 readings!" The readings will start in downtown Vancouver at 9am, on Thursday, April 21, with a finish line reading at the Vancouver Public Library (350 W. Georgia Street) from 7pm to 8:30pm, in the Level 3 Meeting Room. The other participating poets are Kim Fu, Andrea Bennett, and Kevin Spenst. Free Admission. Limited Seating.

Thursday April 21, 7:00 p.m.
Meeting Room, Level 3
Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
Admission is free. Seating is limited.

To combat the image of poets as sedentary word-hermits, these writers -- Ray Hsu, Kim Fu, Kevin Spenst and Andrea Bennett -- are going to jog through 125 different reading venues in one day on April 21st. This athletic aesthetics will combine some of the best of their poetry with a unique list of venues such as coffee shops, book stores, and pizza joints. The day will end with a longer reading of their work at the VPL.

World Poetry Month

ACWW's very own Ray Hsu will be performing at World Poetry Celebrates National Poetry Month. Come join us on Monday April 18th, 2011 at the Vancouver Public Library's Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St., Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level.

The evening will be a wonderful multilingual, multicultural, "Poetathon!" featuring readings by Anita Aguirre Nieveras, Timothy Shay, Bong Ja Ahn, Bernice Lever, and Ray. Iranian Daf music by Karim Kokehi and Taher Kokehi. World Poetry hosts: Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea.

World Poetry boasts a strong Canadian component. In the Lower Mainland alone, it is connected with over 500 poets, musicians, and writers from 64 countries of origin. It also hosts the popular monthly World Poetry Reading Series at the Vancouver Public Library, where it presents events featuring multicultural and multilingual poets, writers, and musicians for enjoyment, enlightenment, and edification.

The World Poetry Café Radio Show airs every Tuesday night from 9-10 PM on Vancouver Co-op Radio (CFRO 102.7 FM), with Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea. Guest hosts are Lucia Gorea and Angelo Moroni. You can find the latest shows on this site.

At the last World Poetry Night reading, Gung Haggis co-hosted along with World Poetry Reading Series, a special blend of contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian poets, mixed with ancient Scottish and Chinese traditions of Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year.

ACWW board of directors Tetsuro Shigematsu and Ray Hsu is part of UBC Dialoges: Vancouver about the nature of higher education in a culturally diverse society on May 9th, 2011.

. One third of UBC Vancouver’s student population is of Chinese descent, with another third made up of students descended from families from other Asian nations. Do these statistics define UBC? Should we even be talking about this?

A recent Maclean’s article titled, “Too Asian,” provoked a storm of responses (some outraged, some humourous), but may have hit upon a small grain of truth. Does UBC’s ethnic makeup reflect the ethnic makeup of the Lower Mainland? Does the predominance of Asian-related students make it more difficult for non-Asians to gain admission? Is “tiger parenting” exclusive to the Asian cultures?

Is a conversation about race at UBC even relevant? Can we explore this topic without offending each other?

ACWW Presents Book Club with SKY Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe

TEDxTerrytalks 2010 - Tetsuro Shigematsu - The Awesomeness of Your Contradictions

Tetsuro Shigematsu offered an amazing session at UBC's TEDxTerry Talk called, The Awesomeness of Your Contradictions. As Tetsuro puts it, Stick out your thumb. That's the thickness of my press package. If you flip through it, fanning past you would be clippings from all manner of periodicals; from monthly community bulletins, to national newspapers. This is the one thing I do well; getting love from the media.

I'm a writer/performer. And garnering coverage is very helpful in getting everything from publicly funded arts grants to international work visas. Nothing establishes credibility quite like a stack of newspaper and magazine profiles.

Ever since I was a teenager writing my first play, to making my first feature film, I've never had to send out press releases. I have always had reporters coming to me. I always assumed this was the way it worked, until I noticed fellow artists counting themselves lucky to get a two line blurb from the local arts weekly.

Which begs the question; why do some people get noticed and others get ignored? Before returning to school, I worked as a national TV and radio broadcaster for the CBC, and I noticed my colleagues in the newsroom always seemed to be endlessly fascinated with one particular kind of person; walking oxymorons. People who embody contradictions, and whose charisma flows from our inability to reconcile their seemingly paradoxical characteristics.

Eminem, white rapper. Tiger Woods, black golfer. Madonna, sex-object feminist. Moby, rock star geek. Jonas Brothers, heart throb virgins. Barack Obama, black president. Terry Fox, crippled marathoner.

Everyone possesses paradoxical traits. But we usually try to suppress them out of fear of appearing inconsistent. But rather than obfuscate our contradictions, we should allow them to define us. I'll show you how to instantly identify your dominant characteristic, how to foreground the one hidden trait that belies it, and illustrate how the media sought out my own evolving contradictions throughout the years, and rewarded me for it.

Gung Haggis Poetry Night at VPL

On January 24th, 2011 -- Robbie Burns Eve -- at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch, Todd Wong organized a poetry night which featured Michael Morris, James Mullen, Cara Kauhane, Steve Duncan (host of Co-Op Radio Wax Poetic), and Ray Hsu (author of Anthropy, Cold Sleep Permanent Afternoon). And Novus TV was on hand to video tape the whole event. As Todd puts it, Gung Haggis Fat Choy, his brainchild, is a "special blend of contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian poets, mixed with ancient Scottish and Chinese traditions of Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year."

The Enrollment Controversy Response

The MacLean's article Too Asian (now redubbed, The Enrollment Controversy), certainly drew a firestorm of responses from the public and especially academia. In response, Ray Hsu's Creative Writing class (with Tetsuro Shigematsu) embarked on a creative video project as a response. If you're interested in the original article, it can be viewed in its entirety here.

This original and creative film was brought to life by Asian Canadian Writing class protesting the Maclean article about the university being too Asian. People involved are Tetsuro and Bahareh Shigematsu, Matt Lyons, Mika, Taizo, Caleb, Libby, Mattea, Danielle Thien, Anna Kaye, Cara Kauhane, David Mount, Happy and Hart Kreter, Haruka Sakaguchi, Indra Pramit, Reena Yu, Ray Hsu, Krissy Darch, , Heidi Loos, Joomi Seo, Kuei-ming Lin, and the UBC Creative Writing Program.

Ricepaper 15th Anniversary Celebration

Ricepaper, ACWW along with Friend's of Foo's Ho Ho, co-hosted the 15th anniversary celebration dinner at Foo's Ho Ho Restaurant at 102 East Pender Street in Vancouver. ACWW Board of directors emcee'd the event as Gung Haggis organizer and ACWW board member, Todd Wong, and actor, radio broadcaster, and comedian, Tetsuro Shigematsu maneuvered the evening beautifully as audiences were treated to an 8 course meal, special celebrity guests and a raffle draw.

In celebration of Ricepaper‘s milestone 15th anniversary at Foo’s Ho Ho Restaurant, the oldest surviving Chinese restaurant in historic Chinatown, audiences enjoyed a taste of pioneer-style Chinese food while serenaded with a poetry reading by renowned poet Evelyn Lau, who was also honoured with the ACWW Community Builder's Award.

Ricepaper is Canada’s only nationally-distributed literary magazine devoted to showcasing Asian Canadian artists, writers, performers and innovators. For 15 years, Ricepaper has published important work for and about Asian Canadian community luminaries such as David Suzuki, Fred Wah, Denise Chong, and Evelyn Lau while also providing opportunities for new and emerging talent to publish their work. This video, Ricepaper 15th Anniversary celebration on W2TV is courtesy of Sid Tan on Vimeo.

Ray's Launch

As Wikipedia says about the very lovely and talented board member and writer extraordinaire, Ray "grew up in Toronto, Ontario. Hsu received an Honours B.A. and an M.A. in English literature from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in English Literary Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While completing his Ph.D., he taught for over two years at Oakhill Correctional Institution, where he founded the Prison Writing Workshop. He is currently based in Vancouver, where he is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.

He has published over a hundred and twenty-five poems in over forty magazines internationally. His work has appeared in such anthologies as Breathing Fire 2: Canada's New Poets and The Echoing Years: An Anthology of Poetry from Canada & Ireland. In 2007, Hsu and his work were the subject of an episode of the television documentary series Heart of a Poet produced by Canadian filmmaker Maureen Judge." Watch here as Ray performs for the Issue 15.3 magazine launch of Ricepaper.

Books

Anthropy (2004)[4]
"Cold Sleep Permanent Afternoon" (2010)[5]

Awards

Gerald Lampert Award (2005)
Trillium Book Award (Poetry), finalist (2005)
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Award (2007)
E.J. Pratt Medal and Prize in Poetry (2000, 2001)

Want to Get Published? Lorimer is Looking, ACWW Wants to Help You

James Lorimer & Company Ltd., a Canadian publishing house in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is looking for writers. In particular, it is searching for submissions to its Children’s and Young Adult Series and has come to ACWW, looking for manuscripts for its "SideStreets Series" – an edgy, issues-based novels for ages 13 and up.

While first priority is good writing, with believable characters, situations, and dialogue, all settings must be Canadian, with storylines that take place in the child or teen world with minimal adult involvement. As publishers of novels and short stories based on the original Degrassi TV series, Lorimer shares the commitment evident in that pioneering series to serious engagement with themes and issues in a way that reaches a contemporary youth audience.

At this time we do not publish picture books, seasonal stories, cookbooks, board books, activity books, historical fiction, or fantasy. We are not interested in stories written to convey a lesson or moral.

Want to know more about SideStreets?

• Interest level: ages 13 and up (high school/YA)

• Reading level: grades 3-5 (hi-lo)

• Length: 30,000 words

• Genre: realistic, contemporary, issues-based fiction

SideStreets novels are fast-paced, high-interest stories with the ability to pull in even the most reluctant teen readers. They feature realistic characters, situations, and dialogue, and explore the often difficult feelings and situations faced by contemporary Canadian teens. We’re not interested in overdone story lines drawn from the world of movies and television rather than from real life. Past topics include: addiction, sexuality, bullying, gangs, mental disorders, and gambling. Characters must be aged 15 and up. Stories that feature male main characters are especially welcome. Settings must be Canadian and contemporary, and diversity of background in terms of race, class and ethnicity is particularly welcome.

ACWW will provide the rest of the details for submissions if you're interested. Please contact us at: info@asiancanadianwritersworkshop.ca. If you are interested in having your manuscript read, we would also be happy to do that, too. The ACWW is committed to helping emerging writers publish in the genre of Asian Canadian writing. When we helped create Henry Chow & Other Stories Anthology, we wanted a young adult fiction book that would appeal to readers who have grown up in Canada reading stories which oftentimes rarely had stories that they could personally relate in an ethnically diverse country such as ours. Here's our chance to make a difference, a change.

Larissa Lai's Automaton Biographies Reading

Long-time Ricepaper contributor, writer, and UBC English professor, Larissa Lai brings us Automaton Biographies. Larissa's new book of poetry consists of four long poems: “Rachel,” a meditation in the voice of the cyborg figure Rachel from Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner and its source material, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; “nascent fashion,” which addresses contemporary war and its excesses; “Ham,” which circulates around the chimpanzee named Ham sent up into space as part of the Mercury Redstone missions by NASA in the 1960s and later donated to the Coulston Foundation for biomedical research; and “auto matter,” a kind of unfolding autobiography told in poems.

Judy Fong-Bates in Vancouver

On Friday May 29, 2010, Judy Fong-Bates gave a reading at UBC's Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. In partnership with Random House Canada, UBC Community Partners for Learning, the Chinese Canadian Historical Society (CCHSBC), the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW), Schema Magazine, the North American Association of Asian Professionals (NAAAP), and ExplorAsian, the IKBLC invited author Judy Fong-Bates' for a reading of her new book, Year of Finding Memory. An elegant and surprising book about a Chinese family's difficult arrival in Canada, and a daughter's search to understand remarkable and terrible truths about her parents' past lives. Growing up in her father's hand laundry in small town Ontario, Judy Fong Bates listened to stories of her parents' past lives in China, a place far removed from their every-day life of poverty and misery. But in spite of the allure of these stories, Fong Bates longed to be a Canadian girl. Fifty years later she finally followed her curiosity back to her ancestral home in China for a reunion that spiralled into a series of unanticipated discoveries. The Year of Finding Memory explores a particular, yet universal, world of family secrets, love, loss, courage and shame. This is a memoir of a daughter's emotional journey, and her painful acceptance of conflicting truths. In telling the story of her parents, Fong Bates is telling the story of how she came to know them, of finding memory. Watch as Larry Wong, Vancouver community historian, introduce Judy to the audience.

Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop & UBC Creative Writing 439/539 at Word on the Street

Ray Hsu of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop talks about "cultural writing" and confronts the challenges of theorizing Asian Canadian writing.

Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop at Word on the Street

On September 26, 2010, Ray Hsu of the The Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and instructor at the UBC Creative Writing Program's first Asian Canadian creative writing course, will be offering a session called "Cultural Writing" at WOTS that will teach participants how to be meme-splicers: taking cultural materials and remixing it so that it catches in people's minds, sticks, and even go viral.

The Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW) assists Asian Canadian writers in publishing and showcasing their work. ACWW has been in operation since 1969 and is also the publisher of Ricepaper Magazine, showcasing creative and inspirational Asian Canadians. Ray Hsu will also be reading in The Poetry Tent from his new book, Cold Sleep Permanent Afternoon. The workshop is limited to 30 people, so early queuing is recommended.

Accès Asie! Asian Heritage National Symposium in Montreal September 2010

The Accès Asie Festival, which celebrates its 15 year of existence in 2010, organizes in collaboration with the MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) an exclusive event for the first time in Canada. Thanks to the Symposium, Accès Asie brings together many professionals from Asian arts and culture who will propose debates, information sessions. Two years ago, the Symposium project was created by Accès Asie organisers. Indeed, this symposium will create a national exchange between the different Asian communities in Canada, to introduce the Asian Canadian wiki and work with a dynamic, passionate and engaged team.

On September 17-19, 2010, various organizations, including the Asian Heritage Month organizations across the provinces, and various artists from different horizons will come together. For the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, it will be a really rewarding experience be able to create and facilitate new networks between the pan-Canadian communities. The Symposium is a unique event in Canada as the three days of meeting will be under the sign of conviviality, friendship, sharing and respect among the organizations.

Eury Chang, Editor of Ricepaper Magazine and Artistic Director of Creative Dominion, will be presenting a session called, "Writing Diversity, Positioning yourself for success in today's global marketplace," while ACWW board of director and UBC Creative Writing instructor, and poet, Dr. Ray Hsu will be a convener for the panel called "Asian (Canadian) History & Culture in Education Systems & Integrations?" and Tetsuro Shigematsu, another ACWW board of director, will be emcee throughout the symposium. Needless to say, ACWW & Ricepaper will be well represented at this important symposium. For more information about this event, please see:

Press release

Program

Way of Ray on TV

ACWW board of director, Ray Hsu was interviewed on ThatChannel.com along with a.rawlings, Phoebe Tsang on July 16 2010!

Asian Etch Your Sketch Off

On May 10, 2010, SKETCHOFF!#$%!! drew a large audience. In fact, it has been a sold-out event every year and the annual show has provided a rare showcase for various Asian stand-up comedians and sketch teams from all over Canada and the U.S. Organized and managed by Asian Canadian theatre icon Joyce Lam, the Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre aims to produce quality plays in which Asian-Canadians take on culturally or artistically significant roles, dispelling Asian stereotypes and creating positive images. Not surprisingly, as a developer of talent, VACT has over the years helped launch such local Asian-Canadian sketch comedy troupes as Hot Sauce Posse and Assaulted Fish.

Hong Kong as Heritage Site

Hong Kong began as a coastal island geographically located in southern China. While small settlements had taken place in the Hong Kong region, with archaeological findings dating back thousands of years, regularly written records were not made until the engagement of Imperial China and the British colony in the territory. Starting out as a fishing village, salt production site and trading ground, it would evolve into a military port of strategic importance and eventually an international financial centre.

The World's First Asian Writing School in English

On January 15, 2010, City University of Hong Kong, an English-language school with seventeen thousand students and a campus notable for its urban, contemporary architecture, will begin accepting applications for a new low-residency MFA program in creative writing. Up to thirty students will be admitted and spend two summers and three long weekends on the Hong Kong campus studying poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in English over the course of two to four years. While the program will have a focus on Asian writing, it is open to writers from anywhere in the world. This is a significant turning point in not only English creative writing, but global creative writing, where languages emerge from a creole English that is now spoken so predominantly in many postcolonial geographies such as Singapore and Vancouver. Leading the charge as part of this is author Xu Xi.