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.

Vancouver Chinatown

Vancouver Chinatown is a haven for tourists each year. But what many do not realize is that Chinatown rivals other Chinese cities such as Hong Kong in terms of historical significance. As the Western Hemisphere's second largest Chinatown in area (after San Francisco), and third largest in population (after San Francisco, and New York), Vancouver's Chinatown continues to hold much mystique, for much of the 20th century, Chinatown was often an ethnic enclave which the majority of white residents had excluded and ostracized. Much of the stories of Asian Canadian literature – Sky Lee, Wayson Choy, and Madeleine Thien, to name a few – use Chinatown as the backdrop for their stories.

Henry Chow Book Launch Video

On May 29, 2010 at the University of British Columbia, the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW) held a Book Launch and Reading of Henry Chow and Other Stories.

These stories, by emerging and established writers such as Evelyn Lau and Governor General's Award winner Paul Yee, will captivate and entertain teens of all ages. The book launch will feature readings by writers Marty Chan, Kagan Goh, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Linda Mah and Kellee Ngan and was followed by a reception hosted by UBC Alumni Weekend. Here is a short video of Kagan Goh's reading and performance.

Date: Saturday, May 29, 2010
Time: 2pm - 4pm

Rabble.ca's Review of Henry Chow & Other Stories

Henry Chow and Other Stories has been receiving strong reviews from a number of book reviews. The most recent is from Rabble.ca.

Henry Chow is an unlikeable character. He is the embodiment of the clichéd high-school student: A class clown with a crush on Charlene, a "close-lip smiler, always trying to conceal her lavender braces," who Henry doesn't even think is "hot" because she's flat chested. He's that guy -- the one who concludes a love interest is a "bitch" when he realizes his affection is unrequited. Yet, Henry Chow is the perfect introduction to the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW) anthology, Henry Chow and Other Stories. The collection of 13 short stories introduces readers to young Asian characters from around the world, from downtown Vancouver, to Calcutta's Chinatown, to Montego Bay, Jamaica, exposing their similarities and differences. Henry represents a stereotype many hold about youth -- immature, superficial, one-dimensional -- acting as a contrast to the many thoughtful and thought-provoking characters that readers meet after him.

Each piece was selected by Ricepaper magazine and the ACWW, including established writers, such as Governor General Award winner Paul Yee, and emerging writers such as Toronto's Annie Zhu who is currently working on her first novel.

Henry Chow and Other Stories explores many universal themes, including love, friendship and loneliness, riddled with stories you would expect to read in an anthology for young adults -- first crushes, driving lessons, meddling parents. Yet these are tales are refreshing, often funny, and strangely reminiscent, likely to trigger readers' own memories of youth, that reflects the high quality writing published by the ACWW and Ricepaper.

Among the anthology's most likeable characters is Eriko, one of two love-struck teenagers in Hanako Masutani's "Beached," an ode to a first crush shared by two close friends. "Under my feet the sand -- powdery at first, then cool and wet -- felt firm and reassuring. With my best -- and as yet unused -- boy-propositioning cool, I stopped a few steps away from Rob Rondow and waited for him to toss the Frisbee. When he did, I tapped him on a bare bicep. ‘Hey,' I said." Readers can't help but hope that Eriko, whose "face was plump like a baby's" wins the affection of Rob Rondow over her friend Amy, with the "white-blonde hair."

Many of the collection's most memorable stories show a dark side to young adulthood, embodied perfectly in the anthology's stand-out story, "Working the Corner," by Vancouver's Evelyn Lau.
"Hoots of laughter and the clatter of heels filled the night, while the air, weighted with marijuana and perfume until it thickened, stirred lazily," writes Lau in her signature lyrical prose, reminiscent of her own collection of short stories, Fresh Girls and Other Stories. "On the corner across from [Shelley], a hooker danced for the passing cars, tottering on the edge of the curb, her head jerking back and forth like a puppet's controlled by invisible strings. A street lamp illuminated a face caked with makeup," she continues, luring readers in to the underbelly of sex work.