Past Events
Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Tamiko Beyer, Robin Coste Lewis, & Metta Sama
Join us for our sixth annual collaboration between Asian American Writers' Workshop and Cave Canem featuring the dynamic talent from four all-star female poets! Winner of two American Book Awards, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge molds language with her keen sensibility for visual art. Characteristic of her style is a lush mix of...
April 5, 2012
6:30 PM
6:30 PM
Cave Canem
20 Jay Street, Suite 310-A
Brooklyn NY 11201
20 Jay Street, Suite 310-A
Brooklyn NY 11201
Lysley Tenorio & Nita Noveno
Join us in celebration of Lysley Tenorio's Monstress, a dazzling debut short-story collection featuring lepers, healers, and celebrities going incognito. Monstress alternates between the Philippines and San Francisco, where we encounter a Filipino B-movie horror actress from the 1960s striving for chance at stardom, a transgender sibling’s revelation at his...
April 4, 2012
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 West 27th Street, Suite 600
New York New York 10001
112 West 27th Street, Suite 600
New York New York 10001
Sophia Chang, Carolina González, dream hampton, Vijay Prashad, Rinku Sen, John Kuo-Wei Tchen
DJ hit replay! Or shall we manually rewind this nostalgic cassette tape with a discerning finger to your favorite awkward 1990s multiculti blunders? The '90s gave us “Sister Souljah moments,” the OJ Simpson hearings, the rise of xenophobic legislation (Prop 187 and 209), and homophobic punditry on national television (Jerry... Ken Chen, Jennifer Karmin, Philip Metres, Mark Nowak, & Jonathan Skinner
How can poets mobilize poetry as a change agent? These poets demonstrate the ways that the arts can contribute to the defense of the environment, workers, and oppose war. Philip Metres will discuss the ways in which projects such as Peace Show (Cleveland) and the “Stories of War and Peace...
March 22, 2012
11:30 AM
11:30 AM
Split This Rock
True Reformer Building, Board Room, 1200 U Street NW
Washington, D.C.
True Reformer Building, Board Room, 1200 U Street NW
Washington, D.C.
Lisa Arrastia, Paul Beatty, Anne Chang, Eddie Huang, Nicholas Lemann, & Wesley Yang
We all think we know the answer to this question--Asians are not black, right? But in the nineteenth century, one California court actually determined that Chinese Americans were black--since they were not, after all, white. This panel--titled after Janine Young Kim’s seminal essay, itself a ‘90s product--discusses how Asians and...
March 21, 2012
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre Street
New York New York
215 Centre Street
New York New York
Kazembe Balagun, Elizabeth Mendez Berry, Jeff Chang, Hua Hsu, Hiram Perez, Jay Smooth, & Salamishah Tillet
Two decades ago, Rodney King famously asked, “Why can’t we all just get along?” The question might as well have served as the defining question of the multicultural moment, in which the US attempted to dream about what a pluralistic society would look like--from GOP Family Values to the black...
March 16, 2012
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art
80 Hanson Place
Brooklyn New York
80 Hanson Place
Brooklyn New York
Thanhha Lai
Torn between poetry and fiction? Wandering in a world of metaphors and similes? Aching to capture your family's stories, but just can't make it "write"? Join us and National Book Award winner Thanhha Lai, for an in depth look at prose poetry. Lai is the author of Inside Out and...
March 9, 2012
4:00 PM
4:00 PM
Teachers and Writers Collaborative
520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2020
New York New York 10018
520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2020
New York New York 10018
Dan Charnas, Christian Lander, David Roediger, Reihan Salam, Neela Vaswani, Jamia Wilson, Negin Farsad
Titled after Don DeLillo’s White Noise, in which identity politics reaches its reductio ad absurdum in a Hitler Studies department, our second AFTER 1989 installment explores the curious phenomenon of white ethnic identity in the 1990s. Think back to a time when Bill Clinton was called the “first African American...
March 8, 2012
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
CUNY Graduate Center, Proshansky Auditorium
365 5th Avenue
New York New York
365 5th Avenue
New York New York
Hari Kunzru & Amitava Kumar
Last month, authors Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar caused an international controversy. They did so by reading aloud from Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. The book is banned in India for its controversial portrayal of Muslims, and Rushdie himself had called off a visit to the Jaipur Literary Festival in...
March 6, 2012
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 West 27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
112 West 27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
Harold Augenbraum, Roberto Bedoya, Sacha Jenkins, Ashok Kondabolu, Jefferson Mao, Latoya Peterson, Himanshu Suri, Thuy Linh Tu, Victor Vazquez
Much of ‘90s multiculturalism was less about race than inventing polite ways to talk about racial taboos. Terms like “diversity” and “political correctness” blunted the unsavory aspects of dealing with racism, even as the right struggled to make English the national language and tamp down transgressive art, multicultural threats to...
March 5, 2012
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
powerHouse Arena
37 Main Street
Brooklyn New York
37 Main Street
Brooklyn New York
Neelanjana Banerjee, Victoria Chang, Ken Chen, Timothy Yu, & Srikanth Reddy
Marilyn Chin said: ‘Our poetry is not a static enterprise but a thriving, historical progression.’ As we look at Asian American poetry today, much as changed, yet much has stayed the same. This panel will feature a group of diverse literary critics, anthologists, and poets in a vibrant discussion to...
March 3, 2012
3:30 PM
3:30 PM
AWP, The Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room 2
720 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago Illinois
720 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago Illinois
Annie Choi & Leah Winkler
The next installment of our blindingly fun Mouth to Mouth Open Mic is here! Brave the mad March weather to hear Leah Winkler and Annie Choi at our monthly party. Leah, a current member of Youngblood Theater Company, is a talented playwright and director. The New York Times praised her...
March 2, 2012
8:00 PM
8:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 West 27th Street
New York New York
112 West 27th Street
New York New York
Don Lee, Ken Chen, Prageeta Sharma, & Nami Mun
Don Lee, Ken Chen, Prageeta Sharma, and Nami Mun read new work and the life behind their literature: private writing rituals; relationships with mentors and peers; favorite books, songs on iTunes repeat and performance-enhancing alcoholic drinks; social media and other procrastination devices. Ask nicely and they’ll talk about writing as...
March 2, 2012
12:00 PM
12:00 PM
AWP, The Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room 2
720 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago Illinois
720 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago Illinois
Jennifer Kwon Dobbs & Grace Cho
Bringing together the best of two worlds -- poetry and noraebang --"Real Karaoke People" is a literary reading/karaoke event that will harmonize, shake, split, and excavate the deeper musical notes of diasporic narratives centered on community, family, the romantic, and immigration. Inspired by Ed Bok Lee’s Real Karaoke People, this...
February 24, 2012
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Place @ Main KTV Bar & Lounge
36-45 Main St. 2nd Fl.
Flushing New York 11355
36-45 Main St. 2nd Fl.
Flushing New York 11355
Monica Ferrell, Chitra Ganesh, Keshni Kashyap, & Himanshu “Heems” Suri of Das Racist
Does your knowledge about the Ramayana come entirely from comics your mom bought you from Jackson Heights? Or are you a comic book fan interested in engaging with one of the bestselling comics in both Asia and the world? Party down with the Workshop’s tribute to Amar Chitra Katha, the...
February 16, 2012
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 West 27th Street
New York New York
112 West 27th Street
New York New York
Hossannah Asuncion, Joseph O. Legaspi, Nita Noveno, Bino Realuyo, Ricco Villanueva Siasoco, & Lara Stapleton
Does Valentine’s Day have you all atwitter? Ease into your “mahal kita” with an afternoon of stellar performances from acclaimed Filipino poets and writers. The featured performances from Hossannah Asuncion, Joseph O. Legaspi, Nita Noveno, Bino Realuyo, Ricco Villanueva Siasoco, and Lara Stapleton, as well as performances from Filipino community...
February 12, 2012
3:00 PM
3:00 PM
Bayanihan Filipino Community Center
40-21 69th Street
Woodside New York 11377
40-21 69th Street
Woodside New York 11377
Monica Youn
Add power to your poetic punches and fleetness to your formal footwork. These classes will focus on adding techniques, tension, and twists to your expressive toolbox. Specific classes will focus on landing leaps, torquing turns, and the uses and abuses of certain voids. There will be a weekly writing assignment...
February 6, 2012
6:45 PM
6:45 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 West 27th Street
New York New York
112 West 27th Street
New York New York
Carla Ching & Angel Yau
Not ready for the New Year festivities to end just yet? Celebrate the Lunar New Year with hosts Ed Lin and Jen Kwok at our first open mic of 2012, featuring the brilliantly funny sketch comedian Angel Yau, who has performed at the NYC Underground Comedy Festival and the Upright...
February 3, 2012
8:00 PM
8:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 West 27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
112 West 27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
YaliniDream & Kilusan Bautista
Are you a high school or college student who wants to be a writer? Or just someone who’s ever wanted to grab the mic? Come join two incredible artists as they show you the ropes of performance and spoken word poetry. YaliniDream artfully weaves her spoken word with music and...
February 3, 2012
4:15 PM
4:15 PM
Asian American/Asian Research Institute, CUNY
25 West 43rd Street, 10th Floo
New York New York
25 West 43rd Street, 10th Floo
New York New York
Xu Xi & editor Anna Sherman
Xu Xi has been called a "pioneer writer from Asia in English" by the New York Times, and a pioneer of a distinct kind of diasporic language. Shortlisted for the Man Asia award, her latest work, Habit of a Foreign Sky, moves between Hong Kong and New York, as the biracial female...
November 8, 2011
6:30 PM
6:30 PM
The Asia Society
725 Park Ave (70th Street)
New York New York
725 Park Ave (70th Street)
New York New York
Master Lee & Sung Rno
Our riotous Open Mic this week features Master (of comedy and karate) Lee and Sung (playwright genius) Rno. Open your mouth and say ahh—or say a poem! Or say a story! Or say a skat! Say anything! The sky (or at least the tin ceiling of Chelsea digs) is the...
October 22, 2011
9:00 PM
9:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
Hossannah Asuncion, Joseph O. Legaspi, Bino Realuyo, Lara Stapleton, & R.A. Villanueva
Five Filipino New Yorkers, Hossannah Asuncion, Joseph O. Legaspi, Bino Realuyo, Lara Stapleton, and R.A. Villanueva, read poetry and prose. From the Philippines and across the United States, these award-winning poets and novelists share their work. Bino A. Realuyo is the author of The Umbrella Country, a novel, andThe Gods We Worship Live...
October 15, 2011
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
Favianna Rodriguez, Jesus Barraza, Jessica Hagedorn, Cesar Maxit, and many more
Join us for the CultureStrike festival: a series of free public arts workshops followed by a free outdoor festival featuring writers and artists from the CultureStrike delegation. CultureStrike Arts Workshops Free to the public! Wednesday, September 14, 4-6PM For the latest information, go to http://www.wordstrike.net/ Artists, Social Media, and Social Justice The...
September 14, 2011
7:30 PM
7:30 PM
Mercado San Augustin
100 S. Avenida Del Convento
Tucson Arizona
100 S. Avenida Del Convento
Tucson Arizona
Bharati Mukherjee & Prithi Gowda
When Outsourced premiered last fall filled with tired, overplayed jokes that relied on bad desi accents and references to sacred cows, it seemed that American popular cultural representations of India had officially shifted from the "land of the ashram" to "the land of the call center." Whether you laughed or cringed when...
May 16, 2011
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
Soomi Kim and Jay Legaspi
Join comedian Jen Kwok and Ed Lin for our monthly open mic, Mouth to Mouth. This month, we feature two artists whose works straddle multiple genres and forms. Multidisciplinary artist Soomi Kim and singer-songer Jay Legaspi will dance, sing, perform, and recite. We hope you don't stay in your seats. Sign-up for a 5-minute slot before the night...
May 13, 2011
9:00 PM
9:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
Supriya Bhatnagar, Pang-Mei Natasha Chang, and Jasmin Darznik
How has the form of memoir been utilized by women writers? What can memoir tell us about history? From 1970s Iran to 1900s China, these are the stories of exceptional women. Jasmin Darznik weaves the experiences of three generations of Iranian women to reflect on their struggle against political and...
May 12, 2011
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
110-112 West 27th Street, 6th Floor STE. 600
New York New York
110-112 West 27th Street, 6th Floor STE. 600
New York New York
Supriya Bhatnagar, Pang-Mei Natasha Chang, and Jasmin Darznik
How has the form of memoir been utilized by women writers? What can memoir tell us about history? From 1970s Iran to 1900s China, these are the stories of exceptional women. Jasmin Darznik weaves the experiences of three generations of Iranian women to reflect on their struggle against political and...
May 12, 2011
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
Lena Sze, Ed Litvak, Jeff Yang and Anthony Advincula
Over the last few years, new media platforms have transformed reporting in our communities: neighborhood-based blogs have informed news coverage; ethnic news organizations are collaborating in ways never seen before; and activists use social media to organize around important issues facing their community. Open City Project Director Lena Sze speaks along side Ed...
May 9, 2011
2:30 PM
2:30 PM
New York University Kimmel Center
60 Washington Square South
New York New York
60 Washington Square South
New York New York
Joseph O. Legaspi, Kamilah Aisha Moon, Samantha Thornhill, Samantha Chanse, and Bushra Rehman
On May 6, NOTICE, a series of readings and performances exploring the moment of stepping off the cliff and into the abyss, comes to the Asian American Writers' Workshop. Join us for an intoxicating evening navigating fear, resolve, panic, exhilaration, death, and rebirth as featured artists Joseph O. Legaspi, Kamilah Aisha Moon, Samantha...
May 6, 2011
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York New York
Nathacha Appanah, Youmna Chlala, Ranbir Sidhu
From the Indian Ocean to the American west, three daring fiction writers tell the story of the dispossessed. Like many characters in postcolonial lit., their protagonists have been cut off from motherlands by war, prison and migration. But the terrain of dislocation these writers explore--spanning the island of Mauritius in...
April 30, 2011
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York City
112 W27th Street, 6th Floor
New York City