Exhausted from having to walk around under the summer sun? Escape the heat with our sixth Open Mic of the year. This week we feature author Sung J. Woo whose short story “Limits” was an Editor’s Choice winner in Carve Magazine’s2008 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, and academic-turned-comedian Ali Wong whose past and present relationships are often fodder for Wong’s comedy routine.

Sung J. Woo’s short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, McSweeney’s, and KoreAm Journal. His debut novel, Everything Asian (2009), has received praises from The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews (starred review), the Chicago Sun-Times, and won the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (Youth category). He is graduate of Cornell University with an MFA from NYU. He lives in Washington, New Jersey.

Ali Wong got her bachelor’s degree in Asian American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles with an aim to become a professor. But, her comic wit would lead her down a different path. Wong, who is of Vietnamese and Chinese descent, passed up an offer to pursue a master’s degree at UCLA and decided to take the stage cracking jokes in San Francisco and in New York. Wong has just filmed the MTV show “Nick Cannon Presents Hatin’ on ’09,” which first aired Jan 1. Viral videos like “American Apparel,” showing Wong dancing with her friend Chris Garcia in leotards and sweatbands have garnered thousands of hits.

Sign up begins at 8:30 PM – 5 minute slot
$5 suggested donation; open to the public

@The Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 W 27th Street, 6th Floor
Btwn 6th and 7th Avenue
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