RSVP HERE!

Ishle Yi Park, the first woman poet laureate of Queens, joins the Asian American Writers’ Workshop to celebrate the launch of Angel & Hannah, a novel of dynamic free verse. The book follows Hannah, a Korean American girl from Queens, and Angel, a Puerto Rican boy from Brooklyn, as they fall in love at a quinceañera: “a disco ball dance of shadow & light.” Rooted in hip-hop and spoken word traditions, the cadence of the poetry transports readers through Angel and Hannah’s relationship, marked by intimacy, sacrifice, and loss. Park will be joined in conversation by poet Willie Perdomo.

*This event will be live-streamed on Zoom, and CART captions will be available. The first 100 RSVPs will receive access to the Zoom link via email. The event will also be live streamed on the Asian American Writers’ Workshop YouTube page for the greater public.*

ISHLE YI PARK is the first woman to become poet laureate of Queens, New York. An award-winning poet, singer, hula dancer, surfer, certified yoga teacher, lomilomi practitioner, and mother, she’s traveled the world reading and performing at universities and writing festivals. Park has organized benefits and shared the stage with other activists, including Sonia Sanchez and Angela Davis. She is of Korean ancestry, and both her daughters were born and are now being raised on the Hawai’ian islands.

WILLIE PERDOMO is the author of Smoking Lovely: The Remix, The Crazy Bunch, The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon, and Where a Nickel Costs of Dime. Winner of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly Award for Poetry, and the PEN Open Book Award, Perdomo was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award. He is co-editor of the anthology, Latínext, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, POETRY, The Best American Poetry 2019, and African Voices. He is currently a Lucas Arts Literary Fellow, a core faculty member at VONA/Voices of our Nation Writing Workshop, and teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy.