Thursday, September 25, 2025

Moderating: Taiwan Travelogue: Unearthing Stories of Identity, Cuisine, & Friendship


I'll be moderating a booktalk for Michigan Taiwanese American Organization (MITAI) as part of its Taiwan Literature Exhibition: Reading Taiwan at AADL

Taiwan Travelogue: Unearthing Stories of Identity, Cuisine, & Friendship

Sunday September 28, 2025: 2:00pm to 3:30pm 

Ann Arbor District Library, Downtown Library: 1st Floor Lobby

Join author Shuang-Zi Yang and translator Lin King—2024 National Book Award winners for Translated Literature—for a conversation on Taiwan Travelogue, set in 1938 colonial Taiwan. Moderated by Frances Kai-Hua Wang, Kaori Ohara, and Wan-Thai Hsu, the discussion explores histories, power dynamics, friendship, and Taiwanese cuisine. A small food tasting from the book will follow, along with a book signing. Don’t miss this immersive exploration of Taiwan’s past and present.

Taiwan Literature Exhibition: Reading Taiwan is on display on the 2nd Floor of the Downtown Library from September 22nd, 2025-January 9th, 2026.

This event is in partnership with the Michigan Taiwanese American Organization and the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York. It includes a signing with books for sale.

https://aadl.org/node/642431

Monday, September 22, 2025

Poetry Reading Live Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry AADL Sept 22


Live Reading | Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry

Monday September 22, 2025: 6:30pm to 7:30pm EDT

Ann Arbor District Library, Downtown Library: 4th Floor Program Room

Join us for a live poetry reading event showcasing four poets from the Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry. Featuring Kowólabi Aboyade, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Bryan Thao Worra, and Rebecca Biber.

The Library intends to provide a live stream of this event pending the presenter's permission. Please check back closer to the event for additional updates.

https://aadl.org/node/645310

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Speaking on Susan Shapiro Secrets of Publishing Panel


I'll be speaking on Susan Shapiro Secrets of Publishing Panel, Wed., Sept. 17, 2025, 6-8pm EDT, Schuler's Books, West Bloomfield

Wednesday, September 17, 2025 - 6:30pm
Schuler Books
Gateway Center
7260 Orchard Lake Road,
West Bloomfield Twp, MI 48322

Are you curious about how to get your work published? Come learn from this fantastic panel of authors who will be sharing tips and tricks that they learned from their personal publishing experiences.

We love seeing who is planning to join us! Your RSVP helps us prepare to host you. You can RSVP here: https://events.humanitix.com/secrets-of-publishing-panel-sbwb

About the Panelists:

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a  poet, essayist, and activist chronicling issues of Asian Americans, race and justice.  She’s written for PBS NewsHour, NBC AsianAmerica, The Emancipator, PRI GlobalNation, AngryAsianMan, Cha Asian Literary Journal and Drunken Boat. She teaches Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at University of Michigan and creative writing at Washtenaw Community College. She co-created a multimedia artwork for Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. She’s author of three chapbooks and a new book of poetry, “You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids,” at Wayne State University Press. Franceskaihwawang.com 

Detroit native Aaron Robertson is a writer, editor, and translator. His debut, The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America  (FSG, 2024), was a finalist for the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History and best book of the year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker and TIME. His Italian translation of Beyond Babylon by Igiaba Scego was shortlisted for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize and the National Translation Award. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, he's written for The New York Times, Foreign Policy and The Nation. 

Joe Grimm teaches journalism at Michigan State University and was an editor a Detroit Free Press editor for 25 years. His books include "Coney Detroit" and "The Faygo Book," a Michigan Notable Books selection. His classes have published 25 books available on Amazon,  most in a series of 100-question cultural competence guides. He’s an adviser for the Great Lakes Books Series at Wayne State University Press and has taught classes in book publishing at Birmingham's Community House.

Aquilino Gonell is a former DC Capitol Police Sergeant who defended Democracy on January 6, 2021, the subject of his bestselling debut book AMERICAN SHIELD: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy. He left the Dominican Republic as a child, moved to NY, joined the US Army to pay for college,  served overseas honorably and had a decorated career as a Staff Sergeant. He was awarded  the Presidential Citizenship Medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, and the Carnegie Immigrant Award.  He’s been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, CBS Mornings, NBC News, Fox-TV, MSNBC, Rolling Stone, Telemundo and Univision.

Susan Shapiro grew up in West Bloomfield Michigan. After graduating U of M, she moved to New York where she's  an award-winning writing professor who freelances for the NY Times, Washington Post, WSJ, LA Times, NY Magazine, Oprah, Wired & New Yorker online. She's the bestselling author of memoirs her family hates like Five Men Who Broke My Heart and The Forgiveness Tour  coauthor of the book American Shield.  She uses her writing/publishing guides The Book Bible and Byline Bible to teach her popular "instant gratification takes too long" courses at  NYU and in private classes & seminars  online. Follow her on Instagram at @Profsue123. 

Christina Wyman is a USA Today bestselling writer and teacher living in Michigan.  Her middle grade debut  Jawbreaker, a Publishers Weekly Best Book, follows a seventh-grader with a craniofacial anomaly that’s caught the attention of school bullies—including her own sister. Her sophomore novel, Slouch, is about a tall girl navigating friends, family, self-esteem, and boundaries. She grew up in a tiny apartment with her family in Brooklyn, New York, where she dreamed of becoming a writer. She’d written for New York Magazine, The Washington Post, Elle, Ms. Magazine and The Independent. 

https://www.schulerbooks.com/events-west-bloomfield

Sunday, September 7, 2025

Speaking and Reading and Performing this fall

I'll be Speaking and Reading and Performing this fall

Panel: Susan Shapiro Secrets of Publishing Panel
Wed., Sept. 17, 2025, 6-8pm EDT, Schuler's Books, West Bloomfield
https://www.schulerbooks.com/events-west-bloomfield

Live Poetry Reading | Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry https://aadl.org/node/645310
Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, 6:30-7:30 pm EDT, Ann Arbor District Library, downtown, 4th floor

Moderating: Taiwan Travelogue: Unearthing Stories of Identity, Cuisine, & Friendship
Sunday September 28, 2025: 2:00pm to 3:30pm EDT
Ann Arbor District Library, Downtown Library: 1st Floor Lobby https://aadl.org/node/642431

Poetry reading as part of a private Taiwanese American event 
Sat., Oct. 25, 2025, 2:00 pm EDT, Rochester Hills, MI

Angel Island with IS/LAND Asian American Pacific Islander Performance Collaborative
Sat., Nov. 15, 2-3pm EST, Detroit Public Library, Detroit
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/detroit-public-library-4535003353