May is Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month May 8th, 2014 posted by Val Katagiri

Asian American Youth Leadership Conference is a conference to inspire Asian American high school students to take action, develop leadership qualities for their careers and communities, and to learn cultural pride
When: Friday, May 15 (all day)
Where: Concordia University, 2811 NE Holman St, Portland, OR 97211
Contact: http://www.aaylc.org/
 
Simon Tam will present the keynote at Business for Culture and Arts on May 28. This second Skills Day event at NW Natural will provide opportunities for Greater Portland arts and culture leaders to gain knowledge and connections through workshops, discussions and one-on-one consulting with business experts. Skills Day is a part of our ongoing Business Volunteers for the Arts Program.
When: May 28, 2014 8am-2:30pm
Where: NW Natural, 220 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Portland, OR
Cost: $25
Contact: http://www.businessculturearts.org/skillsday2014
 
The National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE®) is a national conference on race and ethnicity issues.
When: May 27-31
Where: 120 W. Market St. Indianapolis, IN 46204
Cost: $750 or $450 for students
Contact: (405) 325-3694
Web Link: www.ncore.ou.edu
 
In honor of Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month in  May, OAPIA (Oregon Asian Pacific Islander American) Theatre is presenting its third staged reading in partnership with Portland Center Stage and MediaRites Productions. This growing volunteer group of AAPI artists is dedicated to presenting the work of AAPI in the Portland community and beyond. Join us for a special afternoon of Nikki Nojima Louis’ reader’s theatre play, Breaking the Silence, based on the oral histories, poetry, stories about Japanese American immigration leading up to the forced incarceration during WWII. Many lost their property and many didn’t survive incarceration. The play follows three generations: Issei, Nisei and Sansei exploring their histories and what it means to be Japanese American. Since 1985 when Breaking the Silence was first performed, Louis has traveled throughout the U.S. and Japan creating readings and personalizing the last part of the production to reflect local history. In the Portland premiere of this important work, she has written the story of Portlander Minoru Yasui who bravely contested the constitutionality of the curfew imposed on Japanese Americans at the start America’s entry into WWII.
FREE staged reading of Breaking the Silence, directed by Dmae Roberts:
When: Saturday, May 31, 2014, 2:30pm
Where: Portland Center Stage’s Ellyn Bye Studio, 128 NW Eleventh Ave., Portland, OR 97209
Contact: 503-445-3700
 

 




Award Winning April 14th, 2014 posted by Val Katagiri

“Where Are You From?: An Anthology of Asian American Writing (Volume 1)” was honored as one of five Finalists for the “Best Self-Published Book of 2012″ award by Shelf Unbound magazine. It was also recommended as one of Greater Boston’s Best Book Picks of 2012: Click here to read it!
You can purchase your own copy of the book from Amazon.com. It is available both as a book and for the kindle.
If you’re interested in joining the AsianAmericanWriting listserve, please contact us at info at asianamericanwriting dot com.  Thanks for visiting!




Asian American Writing April 7th, 2014 posted by Val Katagiri

What does it mean to be an Asian American in the twenty-first century? In mainstream America, cliched stereotypes about Asian people as model minorities, asexual techno-geeks, hypersexual dragon ladies, perpetual foreigners, or Yellow Peril “threats” continue to persist — though they are frequently concealed behind politically correct slogans like colorblindness and diversity. Where Are You From?: An Anthology of Asian American Writing challenges these viewpoints.
The writings and art in this anthology envision Asian American identity, culture, and politics on our own terms, through our own experiences and unique perspectives. Incorporating a diverse range of personal essays, stories, critical articles, poems, art, and other work, this anthology seeks to express the truth of our lived realities and to give voice to an Asian America that is frequently marginalized by society. The very title of our book — Where Are You From? — questions the common prejudice often expressed by the majority culture that Asian Americans are alien or foreign to the USA. In the words of Lawson Inada, we want to tell people where we come from — where we’re really from.
Other contributors include Professor Darrell Y. Hamamoto, Andrew Lam, Lee Tonouchi, Matthew Salesses, Curtis Choy, Polo Catalani, Tony Robles, Dmae Roberts, Valerie Katagiri, Sapna Cheryan, Roberta May Wong, Beth Kaufka, Marivi Soliven Blanco, Robert Francis Flor, Michael Lai, Min K Kang, Byron Wong, Zach Katagiri, Larry Yu, Sonia Sarkar, Simon Tam, Ben Efsanem, Koh Mo Il, Victoria Yee, Diem Tran, Luan Nguyen, Souttalith Vongsamphanhn, Bikash Khada, Mary Niang, Ngoc Minh Tran.