Bao Phi

WASHINGTON (April 6, 2012) — An unprecedented convergence of Asian American literature and visual art will present seven writers reading and discussing their work, commissioned in response to ‘Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter,’ the first major exhibit of Asian American visual artists at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium.

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Bryan Thao Worra

By BRYAN THAO WORRA

MINNEAPOLIS (March 28, 2012) — April is National Poetry Month, and this year it’s the Year of The Dragon, which practically calls out for Asian American poets to take our work up to another level.

As a Lao American poet, I’m aware poetry competes with some pretty heavy hitters these days, from video games and movies, to sports and porn.  But as I remind my students regularly, poetry is an art that has thrived for centuries because people ARE able to get passionate about it. There, we’ve found our secret histories, our best memories, our loves and fears, laughter and souls.

The search and mystery are part of the fun.  Some gravitate to poets like Pablo Neruda and Garrett Hongo. Others love the work of Mong-Lan, Lee Herrick or Barbara Jane Reyes. There are as many styles as there are tastes. Some poets use science fiction, fantasy and detective mysteries, others find poetry within video games, Godzilla  and sports. Some like haiku and sestinas, others like ca dao. But there’s an amazing world of poetry out there for the discovery, especially among Asian American writers.

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St. Paul, Minn. (February 13, 2012) – Playwright and performance artist, Katie Ka Vang’s recent diagnosis of Stage 4 Anaplastic Large T-Cell Lymphoma has the Twin Cities community coming together. Six fundraisers in Vang’s name are actively being planned spanning from January to April with many more in the works.

Vang, 32, Director of Navigate: Artist Services at the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent (CHAT) was diagnosed on January 3 at the University of Minnesota Fairview Medical Center. Immediately, friends and family worked collectively to create fundraisers and benefits in order to offset Vang’s medical and living expenses. Vang’s first visit to the hospital was in December 2011 when she did not have medical insurance. Due to the cancer, Vang is now on medical leave for the next two to four months. Currently, her medical bill is over $70,000.

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May Lee-Yang

By SAYMOUKDA VONGSAY
AAP staff writer

Hmong American, May Lee-Yang, has been a household name in the Minnesotan arts community for over a decade, known as a playwright, poet, prose writer, and performance artist.

Lee-Yang was born in Ban Vinai, a refugee camp in Thailand following the Secret War in Laos. Nine months after her birth, her family resettled in St. Paul, Minnesota where she lives to this day. Her work often explores the lives of Hmong women and living in a bicultural world.

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Yale Prof. Amy Chua

The eleventh annual Bob and Kim Griffin Building U.S.-China Bridges Lecture presents Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother: Increasing Mutual Understanding Between U.S. and China from author Amy Chua, a Professor at Yale Law School and author of best seller

“Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” on Friday, February 10, 2012, 4:30 p.m. Lecture and Q&A, Book signing to follow with all three of Amy Chua’s books available to purchase on-site.

McNamara Alumni Center is located at 200 Oak St SE Minneapolis, MN 55455. This event is free and open to the public. Tickets may be reserved online at http://chinacenter.umn.edu with a limited number of tickets available at the door. For assistance please contact the China Center at (612) 624-1002.

AAP staff report

Approaching 40 years in the US, there are many Lao Americans who love science fiction, fantasy, horror, myths and legends.

Now several Lao American writers are looking your stories and art for the very first full-length anthology of Lao American speculative art and literature. Their goal is to publish it later this year.

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By DENIS LEDOUX

Lisbon Falls ME — December with its many gatherings offers an opportunity to celebrate and share our personal and family stories.

More and more ordinary people are discovering that memoirs make a meaningful legacy to leave to the next generation, and that writing them is a rewarding hobby with many benefits for families and communities.

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St. Paul, Minn. — On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, Hnub Tshiab: Hmong Women Achieving Together and Writer/Performance Artist May Lee-Yang invite you to join in the release party for Hmong Women Write Now: An Anthology of Creative Writing and Artwork by Hmong Women and Girls.

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By Mary Tan
AAP Staff Writer

In many books of poetry, each poem symbolizes one story. But what if a series of poems could link together to tell one story?

That is the idea of author Kelly Vang, whose emotional book Star Watchers tells the story of a woman who looks to the stars for emotional help.

The book is a collection of poems that are relatively short, simple and direct. But even the shortest poems have powerful descriptive writing.

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Austin Outhavong

By BRYAN THAO WORRA
AAP staff writer

Austin Outhavong is a Lao-American writer who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He is the author of 50% Falang: 50 Stories from a Half-Breed Abroad in Southeast Asia, which is his first book. His previous published writings were limited to lines of code in medical software subroutines, footnotes in academic urban planning articles, edits to Wikipedia, and revisions to cable television scripts.

Outhavong holds a B.S. in mathematics from Pepperdine University and an M.S. in urban planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and his wife currently reside in Memphis, Tennessee.

Asian American Press had an opportunity to discuss his first book with him.

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