I am Asian American. No hyphen required | Mic

My essay at Mic (check out the juicy tidbit re hyphens and nytimes in the middle)

However, from the earliest usage of the term Chinese American in the 1880s, and later, Asian American in the 1960s, Asians have asserted their place in this country and have made it home. A distinctly Asian American community and culture developed, at first as a political statement, but then organically over time. And now it reaches across ethnic lines to enjoy commonalities, celebrate differences, and stand up for each other.

I am Asian American. No hyphen required

Writing Opinion Essays - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

New WCC Class starting Sat June 5, 10am-12 pm EDT! On Zoom, two Saturdays only, June 5-June 12. Register today!

How do we use writing to touch, inspire, persuade, and provoke readers to action? Learn simple but powerful methods to get the ideas out of your head and onto the page. Consider different forms including op-ed, persuasive essay, spoken word, social media and art. Part writing, part activism and a lot of heart, this class aspires to help you use the written word to create the change you want to see in the world.

Writing Opinion Essays - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

Publication: Sowing Aunties — APWT Joao-Roque Literary Journal Issue 20 Summer 2021

Read and hear my poem "Sowing Aunties," winner of the international Asia Pacific Writers & Translators (APWT) and Joao Roque Literary Journal publication prize 

"Auntie does not think in environmental terms. She does not calculate the economics of her garden, full of the flavors of home that she cannot buy, from jiu tsai to persimmon trees."

Sowing Aunties — Joao-Roque Literary Journal est. 2017 Issue 20 Summer 2021

Resources: Conscious Style Guide

Just found this great resource re conscious use of language  https://consciousstyleguide.com/

About | Conscious Style Guide

Speaking at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library re AAPI Creatives

Speaking tonight on a panel of AAPI Creatives for APAHM at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, a branch of District of Columbia Public Library, located in Washington DC's Chinatown. We're just recording today, but it will be broadcast soon.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library | District of Columbia Public Library

Speaking today at Ann Arbor District Library

Speaking today (March 26) with a panel of librarians at Ann Arbor District Library for APAHM about the Vincent Chin case, my project Beyond Vincent Chin: Legacies in Art and Activism, and the great Academy Award nominated film Who Killed Vincent Chin? by Renee Tajima-Pena. It will be recorded now and broadcast at a later date. 

Ann Arbor District Library will host multiple showings of the film, Who Killed Vincent Chin? They will also invite YA and children's book author Paula Yoo to come speak about her new book, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry in July.

Home | Ann Arbor District Library

NEW YORK WRITERS WORKSHOP student love note

Great love letter from a student who took my "Writing to Save the World" at New York Writers Workshop:

I finished a project -- and I had a set of writing notes out from you the whole time! You kept showing up for me, even after the class. Appreciate you.

More classes soon at NEW YORK WRITERS WORKSHOP - Home

Poet Frances Kai–Hwa Wang creates ‘Lost Constellation’ project for DIA | One Detroit

Will Glover talks to journalist, activist, and poet Frances Kai – Hwa Wang about the poem she wrote that accompanies a dance performed by AAPI women for the Lost Constellations project commissioned by the DIA. The project explores the connections between identity, the wisdom of elders and much more.

Poet Frances Kai–Hwa Wang creates ‘Lost Constellation’ project for DIA | One Detroit

Journalist Law School - Loyola Marymount University

Yay, I got accepted into Journalist Law School! (Don't worry, it's not real law school). So excited to learn more this summer.

Journalist Law School - Loyola Marymount University

1990 Institute Newsletter Vol 1 Issue 8 "How can we keep forging our futures beyond Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month?"

My essay for 1990 Institute Newsletter Vol 1 Issue 8

How can we keep forging our futures beyond Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month?

I was discussing programming ideas for MLK Library in Washington DC Chinatown with my friend Ryan a few months ago, and I mentioned that May is Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPIHM). Ryan said, “We don’t have to wait for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month to do Asian American programming, we can do it in other months, too.”

1990 Institute Newsletter

Speaking at Ann Arbor District Library re Katie Yamasaki

Speaking today (March 19) with a panel of librarians at Ann Arbor District Library about the great work of children's book author and illustrator Katie Yamasaki for APAHM. It will be recorded now and broadcast at a later date.

Home | Ann Arbor District Library

"Asia Pacific of the Mind" International Poetry Prize from Asia Pacific Writers & Translators (APWT) and Joao Roque Literary Journal

oh wow I just won an international poetry prize for Sowing Aunties, "Aunties may look cute and sweet on the outside, but never underestimate what is on the inside." Thanks Asia Pacific Writers & Translators (APWT) Joao Roque Literary Journal

Asia Pacific Writers & Translators

1teSccnp7onsuhored  · 

Congratulations to Frances Kai-Hwa Wang winner of Asia Pacific of the Mind - an APWT Joao Roque publishing collaboration. Frances takes home a $500USD cash prize for her poem Sowing Aunties. The winner and excellent range of shortlisted entries will be published in a special edition of Joao Roque Literary Journal in June. Kudos to all the feature writers

Announcement link Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/APWriters/photos/a.211184915606902/4119541564771198

5/17/21: One Detroit – Frances Kai-Hwa Wang DIA project / Impact of Collaborations / Detroit Filipino Supper Club / Dave Bennett Quartet | One Detroit

Interview with DPTV's Will Glover about my poem "Lost Constellation" and the beautiful dance and music of IS/LAND – A Performance Collaborative on Detroit Public Television. Aired Monday 5/17/2021 and showing again Wed 5/19/2021 11pm EDT on DPTV. Big thanks to Detroit Institute of Arts and Sharon Dow for this opportunity. At the 2:25 mark

5/17/21: One Detroit – Frances Kai-Hwa Wang DIA project / Impact of Collaborations / Detroit Filipino Supper Club / Dave Bennett Quartet | One Detroit

Also at Bridge Magazine
One Detroit: Frances Kai-Hwa Wang DIA project / Impact of Collaborations / Detroit Filipino Supper Club / Dave Bennett Quartet - Bridge Detroit

Direct link to interview https://youtu.be/9Q0p02ecn8w?t=146
The Lost Constellation Project/Dave Bennett Quartet | Full Episode - YouTube

One more article 5/24

Poet Frances Kai–Hwa Wang creates ‘Lost Constellation’ project for DIA | One Detroit

The ABC's of Getting Published - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

This WCC class is going to run this Sat 5/22/2021 10am-12pm EDT 

There are still a few more spaces so Register today!

The ABC's of Getting Published - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

Wow Comments

 I was turned down for a grant application today, but what a gift to get comments!

There is so much I love about your work, particularly the way you've illustrated the legacy of family and tradition while rooting it all in this very specific time. Your prose is both detailed and spare, dazzling at times. The repetition in "Learning to Drive Defensively" is incredibly powerful. And yes to this: "I write myself into existence every day." Yours is an important voice that we all need to hear/read right now.

Your first piece--"Sowing Aunties"--is marvelous! Your deft weaving of tradition, voice, and prose that's humorous, and yet contains gravity, is really admirable.

IS/LAND Lost Constellation at DIA | AADL Pulp Arts Around Ann Arbor

IS/LAND Lost Constellation at DIA as discussed by AADL Pulp Arts Around Ann Arbor by Christopher Potter

IS/LAND is a Southeast Michigan collective of Asian Pacific Islander American and Asian artists, and the group's "In Isolation Pt. 1 - SYNODIC" was a welcome respite of verdant color and light during January's gray darkness. Filmed and soundtracked by Chien-An Yuan, the video features dancer J Amber Kao moving and gesturing within a tightly prescribed area of Ann Arbor's Saginaw Forest, exploring change in a year where everything in the world was transformed and yet some days it felt like time stood still. (Read the review here.)

Kao and Yuan are back with fellow IS/LAND's members ciale and writer Frances Kai-Hwa Wang for two more performance pieces as part of the Detroit Institute of Art's celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Filmed at the DIA's Detroit Film Theatre, the two works in Lost Constellation explore individuality and interconnectivity:

Pt. I - 'A Path of Lights'
Two dancers, J Amber Kao and ciale, explore interdependence, healing, and connection. The space between their motion connects yet divides them. As they navigate their individual spaces within the physical environments, the inevitability of their interrelationship manifests itself into a shared narrative. With a poem written and performed by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang and a music score by Jienan Yuan.

Pt II - 'Singular Plural'
A liminal meditation by ciale of gender expression and persona.

Ann Arbor District Library | Pulp | Arts Around Ann Arbor

IS/LAND'S "LOST CONSTELLATION at AADL Pulp | Arts Around Ann Arbor

IS/LAND'S "LOST CONSTELLATION (PT. 1 + II)" EXPLORES INDIVIDUALITY AND INTERCONNECTIVITY THROUGH MOVEMENT, SOUND, WORDS, AND VIDEO

by Christopher Porter, Mon, 05/10/2021 - 7:30am

Pulp | Arts Around Ann Arbor

https://pulp.aadl.org/node/578310

1990 Institute Newsletter Vol 1 Issue 7 What are you doing for Asian American and Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander Heritage Month?

My essay for 1990 Institute Newsletter Vol 1 Issue 7 

What are you doing for Asian American and Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander Heritage Month?

I just taught a prose poetry class at New York Public Library in Mandarin Chinese to a group of lively Chinese grandmas. I was worried whether my Mandarin would hold out, but we wrote about first days in America, favorite foods missed, and hopes and dreams for beloved grandchildren. We had so much fun sharing stories. It was a great warm up for Asian American and Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander Heritage Month. 

1990 Institute Newsletter

AAWAA Exhibition photographs of "Sowing Aunties"

Exhibition photographs of "Sowing Aunties" from Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) and Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) Sowing Agency art exhibition at SOMarts in San Francisco, May 2021. Check out the virtual exhibition tour (although I think my piece is behind a wall...tell me if you figure out how to see it) 

https://www.aawaa.net/sowing-agency-2021

VIDEO: Poetry Reading at the 20:00 mark https://youtu.be/uoevDCjz6kg

Updated: Text and audio of “Sowing Aunties,” available in Joao Roque Literary Journal, 2021

Continuing Writing Workshop: Finding the Writer Within - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

My Continuing Writing Workshop: Finding the Writer Within class on Sundays 12-2pmEDT/ 9:00amPDT/ 6:00amHST begins today 5/2 for Spring term 2021. There are still a few spots left, register today!

Continuing Writing Workshop: Finding the Writer Within - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

VIDEOS: Poetry Readings: AAWAA Sowing Agency Opening and IS/LAND DIA "Lost Constellation"

Big Thanks to the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) and APICC for sponsoring the 2021 Sowing Agency Arts Exhibition and United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF2021). Here is the video of the Opening launch party. My artwork and poetry reading "Sowing Aunties" is at the 20:00 minute mark  https://youtu.be/uoevDCjz6kg

Big Thanks also to the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) for hosting IS/LAND's dance and poetry performance, "Lost Constellation," which premiered today with the beautiful talents of J. Amber Kao, Ciale, and Chien-An Yuan. You won't see me, but you will hear me and my poetry at the 3:36 minute mark.  https://youtu.be/LRHWNcE3arU

Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!