Fridley, Minn. (July 26, 2016) — The August 2016 Reading Series at features Freya Manfred and Kao Kalia Yang who will share their writing at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12 at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, 6666 East River Road, Fridley, MN 55432.
The reading event is part of the 2016 readings, which are co-curated by writers Margaret Hasse and Clarence White. The events are free and open to the public and no RSVPs are necessary. The 2016 Reading Series is presented in partnership with the Anoka County Library.
Freya Manfred is the author of eight books of poetry. Her two most recent are Swimming With A Hundred Year Old Snapping Turtle, which won the 2009 Midwest Booksellers’ Choice Award, and Speak, Mother, 2015. A longtime Midwesterner who has also lived on both coasts, her poems have appeared in over 100 reviews and magazines and 45 anthologies. She’s a recipient of a Harvard/Radcliffe Fellowship and an NEA Grant, among other awards. Her first memoir, Frederick Manfred: A Daughter Remembers, was nominated for a Minnesota Book Award and an Iowa Historical Society Award. She lives north of Stillwater with her husband, screenwriter, Tom Pope, and their sons, award-winning visual artists Nicholas Bly Pope and Ethan Rowan Pope, have illustrated some of her poetry, and are the subjects of her second memoir, Raising Twins: A True Life Adventure, 2015 (Nodin Press).
Kao Kalia Yang is a teacher, public speaker, and writer. She is a member of the Hmong ethnic minority who was born in Thailand’s Ban Vinai Refugee Camp and is now an American citizen. The Song Poet, Kao Kalia Yang’s remarkable new book from Metropolitan Books, is about art, resilience and the opportunities and indignities that come with life in a new country. Yang, a Minnesota resident, dealt with some of these same subjects in her prizewinning debut, The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir. (Coffee House Press, 2008). She is a graduate of Carleton College and Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Kao Kalia lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her family.
Future scheduled writers for the 2016 reading series include Marisha Chamberlain and Molly Sutton-Kiefer (September 9), Donte Collins, Carolyn Holbrook, and Rachel Moritz (October 14), Mike Finley and Lia Rivamonte (November 11), and Margaret Hasse and Clarence White (December 9). All events take place at 7:30 pm at Banfill-Locke.
Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts (BCLA) is a source for the community providing inspiration, enrichment, enjoyment, opportunities and education through the arts. BCLA is a nonprofit center located at the juncture of Rice Creek and the Mississippi River in Manomin County Park. Since 1979, Banfill-Locke has served the community through accessible arts programming including gallery exhibitions, classes and workshops, festivals, gift shop, literary readings and artist residencies. The Art Center has inhabited the historic former Banfill Tavern and Locke House since 1988 through a public/private ownership with the Anoka County Parks Department. Regular Art Center hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm. For more information call (763) 574-1850 or email [email protected] or visit www.banfill-locke.org.
