I’m thrilled Leona connected me with Shin Yu Pai for this written Q&A piece for TaiwaneseAmerican.org centered on her work as an artist, writer, and podcast host. As two podcasters, Shin Yu and I naturally gravitated to talking live after the initial Q&A. I found our conversation to be soul-enriching for those consciously on a healing journey. To listen to the audio interview, check out the podcast episode on TaiwaneseDiaspora.com (available on all major podcast apps). Shin…
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1050"] Book of Cord coverage in World Journal, article by Emily Lin, book photography by Tinfish Press, family portrait by Andy Kuno[/caption] Leona Chen is the author of Book of Cord, her debut poetry collection from Tinfish Press. The poems tackle family, culture, language, migration and history in a non-prescriptive way, relying instead on emotions embedded in precise, culturally coded details--quotidian (but not ordinary) objects such as tiger balm,…
Performance poet Kelly Tsai shares this inspiring video poetry message dedicated to the 800K+ people who have served with AmeriCorps and the millions more who work every day to improve communities across the country. Kelly is an AmeriCorps Public Allies Alum, and this is a collaboration between her and fellow Americorps VISTA Alum, Ryan Hartley Smith. They based the characters and stories in the short on their own experiences and also those of dozens from across the country. Check it out.…
Taiwan is a magical place at the heart of Asia. An island nation, it has famous night markets, adventurous terrain, hot spring resorts, a bamboo skyscraper—and one of the world's most beautiful bookstores. These four authors, of Taiwanese descent or writing about Taiwan, include two very different novelists, a photographer/poet, and one of Asia's best guidebook writers. Join us as they talk about how "place" becomes character in their writing. (And yes, they will take questions about travel tips.) Featuring…
As we celebrate Taiwanese American Heritage Week and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, TaiwaneseAmerican.org is pleased to feature accomplished individuals of Taiwanese descent who have used their voices and talents to highlight the histories and legacies of our community. Kenji C. Liu is author of Map of an Onion, national winner of the 2015 Hillary Gravendyk Poetry Prize. His poetry is in, among other places, American Poetry Review, Action Yes!, Split This Rock’s poem of the week series,…
