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Join poet Jenny Liou for a reading from Muscle Memory, her debut collection from Kaya Press, which grapples with violence and identity, beginning with the chain-link enclosure of the prizefighter’s cage and radiating outward into the diasporic sweep of Chinese American history. Liou will be in conversation with Jess Ng, Muay Thai champion and leader of self-defense classes. After the reading and discussion, Ng will lead a self-defense workshop for audience members. This event is presented in partnership with Kaya Press.

Tickets for this event are limited. Details on the self-defense workshop will be shared prior to the event.

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT.

Jenny Liou is an English professor at Pierce College and a retired professional cage fighter. She lives and writes in Covington, Washington.

Born and raised in Queens, New York, Jess Ng is a first generation Chinese-Hong Kong-American designer, small business owner, and defiant disruptor of status quos. The seasoned Muay Thai fighter won gold at the 2017 Pan American games, a bronze in the 2018 Pan American Championships in Buenos Aires, and has also competed in Thailand and Malaysia. Her indomitable fighting spirit can be seen in the work she does with AAPI organizations and self-defense seminars she leads throughout New York City. Jess continues to inspire social consciousness and impact when she’s not dominating games of mahjong or working on her fluency in Toisan, her grandmother’s dialect.