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Cartoonists Talk

• Jillian Tamaki’s Eileen Fisher Armor

  

  The artist and illustrator of Skim and This One Summer talks about the tension of tween-hood, body types in mainstream comics, and why purple is the warmest color.

  By Anne Ishii

• A GIF Is a Moment’s Monument

  

  An interview with R.A. Villanueva on getting published, what a good GIF and a good poem have in common, and the right way to pronounce GIF

  By Hossannah Asuncion

• The Body Artist

  

  Treating the invisible wounds of America’s violent past, Rajkamal Kahlon edges closer to finding peace in herself.

  By Kate Woodsome

• Bavarian Forest

  

  Killed by the Gestapo 70 years ago, today, special agent Noorunisa Inayat Khan inspires with messages in code. A reflection and poem.

  By Humera Afridi

The Blog

Anne Ishii

Legal Dramas, Mad Men, and the Evolution of the Fictional Female Lawyer

Kavi K.

The School for Good and Evil: A Review

Anne Ishii

Dennis Hopper Estate Sale: “Chinese” Warrior. Hey man, he’s Japanese, man.

Anne Ishii

Monday Clicks: Lunar New Year, Celine Dion and Other Forms of “Poetry”

Anne Ishii

Wednesday Clicks: Marguerite Duras, Godemichets, That (Psy and) Pistachios Ad

Recent Headlines

• Fred Ho’s Radical Imagination

  By Diane Fujino

• Michael DeForge Is Not the Weirdo His Characters Are

  By Anne Ishii

• Outside the Margins: Weekly Link Roundup

  By AAWW staff

• Koyama Press: Saving Artists, One Canadian at a Time

  By Anne Ishii

• Outside the Margins: A Weekly Link Roundup

  By AAWW staff

• Body Plus Poem

  By Yasmin Majeed

• A Hundred Flowers of Revolutionary Hope

  By Bill V. Mullen

• The Ghosts They Carried

  By Kitana Ananda

• (Un)American, (Un)Cool

  By Kavita Das

Events

• November 13, 7:00 PM

  WHERE POC BEATS MFA: CELEBRATING VONA

  So you read Junot Díaz’s essay MFA vs. POC, but did you know that it was originally published in a special anthology of work by writers of color? Join us as we celebrate the legacy of Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation (VONA), a vital nonprofit for writers of color cofounded by Elmaz Abinader, Junot Díaz, Victor Díaz and Diem Jones in 1999. We’ll celebrate VONA cofounder and PEN/Josephine Miles Award winner Elmaz Abinader. Her new poetry collection This House, My Bones is a searing inquiry into war, injustice, and history that Patricia Smith calls “a gorgeously scripted chronicle that probes the collective heart and the countries we inhabit when we dare to speak out loud.” Join us also for the New York launch of Dismantle, the new anthology of writing from VONA alums like Chris Abani, Minal Hajratwala, and Justin Torres. Come hear VONA alums Mai Perkins (read her on Hong Kong and Ferguson here), poet Cynthia Dewi Oka (Nomad of Salt and Hard Water), and poet Seve Torres.  

  /\ /\ \/\/ \/\/

   

  Philadelphia area based strategist Diem Jones is a poet/musician, multi-disciplinary producer, and program designer who has achieved critical acclaim for his professional work in the fields of photography, filmmaking, creative writing, philanthropy and music for over 30 years. Diem is the Executive Director and co-founder of Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, and has served as Director of Grants for the Houston Arts Alliance, Deputy Director at Arts Council Silicon Valley, and the National Administrator of WritersCorps. Along with his most recent musical spoken-word CD, A Spirit of Oui,  his previously Grammy nominated CD Equanimity, and Black Fish Jazz have been performed with theEquanimity Band at venues throughout the US, including the San Jose Jazz Festival. In addition, Jones, aka Dr. Fladimir MS Woo/Dr. H.M. Joy, was Creative Director and Photographer for George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic during the 70’s & 80’s. Elmaz Abinader’s new poetry collection, “This House My Bones,” asks us how many times our hearts can break. Elmaz is also author of the Willow Books Editors’ Selection for 2015; a memoir, The Children of the Roojme: A Family’s Journey from Lebanon, and a poetry collection, In the Country of My Dreams. Additionally, Elmaz has written and performed several one-women plays: Country of Origin, Ramadan Moon, 32 Mohammeds, Voices from the Siege and The Torture Quartet. Winner of a Goldies in Literature, a PEN/Josephine Miles Award, Elmaz has been a Fulbright Scholar and the winner of the Oregon Drammies for Country of Origin. She teaches at Mills College in Oakland, and is co-founder of VONA/Voices. As a freelance writer, Mai Perkins has nurtured her intellectual and artistic craft at both Howard University and Sarah Lawrence College. Currently, she is completing an MA with a media and culture focus in the Graduate Program of International Affairs at Milano, a division of The New School. There, she is entrenched in theoretical discourse surrounding media, culture, social activism and human rights. Currently living in Brooklyn, her roots are in sunny California, though she’s spent time in Dubai and Hong Kong. When not traveling, teaching, taking classes or documenting her life experiences, Mighty Mai spends many joyful moments singing and dancing among friends, reveling in the unforgettable good times—whether on stage, in someone’s living room, in a park or a Brooklyn backyard! Cynthia Dewi Oka is a poet and author of the poetry collection Nomad of Salt and Hard Water (Dinah Press, 2012). A Voices of Our Nations (VONA) alumnus, her poetry has appeared in in various print and online publications. Recently, she was awarded the Fifth Wednesday 2014 Editor's Prize in Poetry and an artist grant from the Vermont Studio Center. Born and raised Bali, Indonesia, she now lives in New Jersey. For more info, visit www.cynthiadewioka.com.  Sevé Torres is a poet, writer, and adjunct professor at Rutgers-Camden and Camden County College. His work has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Duende, Mead: The Magazine of Literature and Libations and the following anthologies Stay Solid! A Radical Handbook for Youth, and Dismantle: An Anthology of Writing from the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop. He is currently finishing his first full-length poetry collection: Here, We Become Islands.

  RSVP here today!

  ..
  
• November 14, 1:45 PM

  The Poem and Social Space: AAWW at Facing Race

  The poem can mobilize us in a social space, the poet Myung Mi Kim tells us. Taking that cue, how do we consciously use poetry to that end? How do we embed writing into the social justice process, and have it enter new spaces?Presenters will begin with a discussion of their work combining writing and social justice, followed by breakout workshops led by each writer, concluding with a reading from each group. Each presenter has experience teaching and discussing poetry within both traditional literary spaces and outside, from youth programs to prisons. Join AAWW at the Facing Race conference, the largest multiracial, inter-generational gathering for organizers, educators, creatives and other leaders. Ken Chen is the Executive Director of the Asian American Writers' Workshop. He is the recipient of the Yale Younger Poets Award, the oldest annual literary award in America, for his book Juvenilia, which was selected by the poet Louise Glück. An NEA, NYFA and Bread Loaf fellow, Chen co-founded the cultural website Arts & Letters Daily. Originally from Galveston,TX, Lupe Mendez works within the Librotraficante Movement to advocate for literacy/literature and organize creative writing workshops that are open to the public. He is a CantoMundo Fellow and an ONLINE MFA candidate in Creative Writing with the University of Texas @ El Paso. His most recent work has been published in Flash (UK), Revista Síncope (MEX), La Noria, Nakum, and Huizache. Janine Joseph’s debut collection, Driving Without a License, winner of the 2014 Kundiman Poetry Prize, is forthcoming in spring 2016 from Alice James Books. Her poems have appeared in or are forthcoming from The Journal, Kenyon Review Online, Best New Poets, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from New York University and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Janine is an Assistant Professor of English at Weber State University. Randall Horton is the recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, the Bea Gonzalez Poetry Award and most recently a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Literature. Randall is a Cave Canem Fellow, a member of the Affrilachian Poets and a member of The Symphony: The House that Etheridge Built. Randall is Assistant Professor of English at the University of New Haven. An excerpt from his memoir titled Roxbury is published by Kattywompus Press. Triquarterly/Northwestern University Press in the publisher of his latest poetry collection Pitch Dark Anarchy. ..
  
• More AAWW Events

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Now on Twitter

1. 
   The AAWW: #PoetryTuesday "Careful, keep singing in the mother tongue -- moon's voice is what clears the clouds off her face." - Maya Khosla (Bengali)
   about 1 hour ago

2. 
   The AAWW: #PoetryTuesday "I wept at stones that stored so much light." Meena Alexander (Porta Santa)
   about 2 hours ago

3. 
   The AAWW: WHERE POC BEATS MFA:celebrate Voices of Our Nation Arts Found. w/ @drhmjoy @ElmazWrites & other alums THURSDAY, 7pm t.co/foc5MFvRhG
   about 4 hours ago

Open City

• The Festival of Light and Liberation, Sikh Style
  Diwali is celebrated in various ways by South Asian peoples. The Sikh celebration adds politics to the mix.
• Karma on the Half Shell
  Buddhist "mercy releases" have long set animals free in ways that may harm them. Parks and animal protection organizations are working to make it better.
• The Counterculturalists: Alex Hing
  Red Guard founder Alex Hing talks 1960s radicalism, sympathizing with North Korea and that infamous punch.

CultureStr/ke

• Off Center
  Second generation photographers recast the portrait across diasporas and generations.
• Liberty For All
• Your Radical Next-Door Neighbors
  An archive of art and poetry points back to immigration reform during the Cold War.