he Programs Division of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop is devoted to the promotion of Asian American literature by providing literary events to increase the awareness of emerging and established writers of Asian ancestry living in United States. Comprised of four components. The Programs Division produces opportunities for writers to advance their literary career through creative writing workshops, a reading series, a performance series and a national literary caravan. The Programs Division is committed to bringing literary events to audiences unexposed to Asian American literature.
Sharing stories and creating a oral history of Asian America through literature is the primary vision of the Programs Division. AAWW is a safe space for the sharing and exchange of ideas and thoughts; a place where true identification of self is achieved by cherishing similarities and celebrating differences of others. Programming allows for the written word to leap from the page of books to the three-dimensional reality in which we live. Events allow audiences to interact directly with authors, other artists and themselves. The true value of the programming of AAWW is the actuality that literature reflects and propels our lives.


With our strong commitment to nurturing new writers, we now off a variety of writing workshops ranging from screenwriting and performance poetry to prose narrative and technical assistance. All of these workshops are facilitated by award-winning artists who have extensive publishing and teaching backgrounds. Workshop facilitators have included MacArthur Genius Awardee Han Ong, NEA fellow Wang Ping and American Book Award recipient Kimiko Hahn.


Since the publishing of Asian American literary work has increased since the early 1990s, the exposure and visibility of Asian American authors has been essential in creating a literary community for Asian Americans, as well as promoting book sales to the larger mainstream audience. The primary goal in coordinating a reading series for Asian American writers is to provide a venue in which writers are able to share and promote their work to a larger mainstream audience within the safety of their community. After each reading, a Question and Answer session commences where the audience gets the opportunity to interact with Asian American authors.


The first series features bi-monthly readings by established and emerging writers in our performance space at 37 St. Mark’s Place in New York City’s East Village. The reading series includes a regular Open Mike night for first-time readers, panel discussions with Asian American authors, and book-signings. The New York Reading Series attempts to create readings that are not only entertaining but also intellectually stimulating. Concentrating on themes and issues have been a large focus of programming in recent years. Readings have explored themes of sexuality, feminism, war, and colonialism. AAWW have held events as diverse as a literary memorial for Filipino poet Jose Garcia Villa, a reading of queer Asian American writers, and a reading on the turmoil of Chinatown’s sweatshops.

Along with presenting readings in our performance space, AAWW has collaborated with numerous literary, arts, and non-profit social organizations in the New York City area to present events collaboratively.


Summer 99 Readings
Eric Gamalinda
John Yau
Tuesday, June 1, 5:00 PM
New York Foundation for the Arts fellows Eric Gamalinda, author of Zero Gravity, and John Yau, author of My Symptoms, read works to benefit the Cammy Lee Leukemia Foundation.
@ Cendrillon (45 Mercer btw. Broome & Grand).
$5 suggested donation.

Jhumpa Lahiri
Thursday, June 3, 7:00 PM
Jhumpa Lahiri celebrates the release of her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies. Cosponsored by NYU's Asian/Pacific/American Studies Institute.
@ NYU's A/P/A Studies Institute (269 Mercer, Rm. 609, btw. West 4th & Washington). Free.

*Family Between the Pages
Lan Samantha Chang, Alvin Eng, Xu Xi Komala & Andrea Louie
Friday, June 11, 7:00 PM
Join Lan Samantha Chang, author of Hunger, Alvin Eng, playwright of Mao Zedong: Jealous Son, Xu Xi Komala, author of Hong Kong Rose, and Andrea Louie, author of Moon Cakes, in a reading and discussion on family and writing as part of China Institute's *Traditions, Tensions and Togetherness: The Chinese Family in America* conference. Moderated by Derek Nguyen.
@ China Institute (125 East 65th Street).
$10 general, $8 AAWW members. For info or RSVP, call 212.744.8181.

Ashok Mathur
Rita Wong
Wednesday, June 16, 7:00 PM
Asian Canadians Ashok Mathur reads from his novel Once Upon an Elephant with Rita Wong, the 1997 ACWW Emerging Writer Award Winner and author of poetry collection, monkeypuzzle.
@ AAWW. $5 suggested donation.

Usha Akella
Thaddeus Rutkowski
Thursday, June 24, 7:00 PM
Thaddeus Rutkowski reads from his newly released novel, Roughhouse, and Usha Akella expresses womanhood and creativity with her poetry collection, ...Kali Dances, So Do I...
@ AAWW. $5 suggested donation.

Bamboo Girl Benefit
Tuesday, July 8, 7:00 PM
Music, rant, empowerment and spoken word. Sabrina Margarita Sandata hosts a plethora of performances benefiting her popular 'zine Bamboo Girl. Appearances by Apple of Bebotwear, Aileen Cho, Calvin Lom, Jessica Potter, Zahera Saed, DJ Rekha Malhotra and others!
@ AAWW. $7 general, $5 members.

*Bino A. Realuyo
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
Sunday, July 18, 5:00 PM
Bino A. Realuyo, author of The Umbrella Country and Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, author of Why She Left Us, read at this swank new literary space.
@ Joe¹s Pub at The Public Theatre
(425 Lafayette at Astor Place). Free.

The NuyorAsian Celebration
Thursday, July 22, 7:00 PM
The Workshop celebrates the release of our newest anthology, The NuyorAsian Anthology: Asian American Writings on New York City. Refreshments, booksignings and readings by contributors. Join in on the fun!
@ AAWW. $5 suggested donation.

Leslie Chang
Lee Ann Roripaugh
Mako Yoshikawa
Thursday, July 29, 7:00 PM
Lee Ann Roripaugh's poetry collection, Beyond Heart Mountain, selected for the National Poetry Series, summons the spirits of Japanese internment. Leslie Chang, author of Beyond the Narrow Gate: The Journey of Four Chinese Women from the Middle Kingdom to Middle America reads with Mako Yoshikawa, author of the novel One Hundred and One Ways.
@ AAWW. $5 suggested donation.

Summer 99 Workshops
Spoken Word Workshop - Beau Sia
Tuesays, June 8­22, 7:00 PM
The "Jewel thief" facilitates a workshop on the writing and performing of spoken word poetry. A student performance will take place at the Workshop on June 22.
Requirements: No experience necessary.
Maximum capacity: 12
General: $75 Members: $64
Beau Sia is the author of A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge, the CD Attack! Attack! Go! and can be seen in the film Slam.

Fiction Workshop - Christian Langworthy
Mondays, June 14-July 19, 7:00 PM
A Workshop favorite heads a class on blurring the lines between fiction, poetry and short stories. Requirements: No experience necessary.
Maximum capacity: 12
General: $150 Members: $128
Christian Langworthy is the author of Paper Ammo, an upcoming novel to be released by Riverhead Books.

Poetry Master Class - Kimiko Hahn
Saturdays, June 12­July 24, 1:00 PM
Author, teacher and diva extraordinaire facilitates a master class in poetry. Class meets every other Saturday.
Requirements: For admission, please send five pages of poetry by Friday, May 28.

Send to:
The Asian American Writers' Workshop
37 St. Mark's Place, Ste. B
New York, NY 10003-7801
Attn: Kimiko Hahn's Poetry Master Class
Notification: Saturday, June 5.
Maximum capacity: 12
General: $200 Members: $170
Kimiko Hahn is the multiaward winning author of poetry collections Mosquito & Ant, Volatile and The Unbearable Heart.

Featured Summer Artist
JHUMPA LAHIRI
JHUMPA LAHIRI was born in London and grew up in Rhode Island. She lives in New York City.

INTREPRETER OF MALADIES
Traveling from India to New England and back again, the stories in this extraordinary debut collection unerringly chart the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the barriers of nations and generations. Imbued with the sensual details of Indian culture, they also speak with universal eloquence to everyone who has ever felt like a foreigner. Like the interpreter of the title story, which has been selected for both the O. Henry Award and The Best American Short Stories, Lahiri translates between the strict traditions of her ancestors and the baffling New World. Including two stories published in The New Yorker, Interpreter of Maladies introduces, in the words of Frederick Busch, "a writer with a steady, penetrating gaze. Lahiri honors the vastness and variousness of the world."

Published by Mariner Books / Houghton Mifflin Company.
ISBN 0-395-92720-X
Available at The Asian American Bookseller.

PRAISE

"A dazzling storyteller with a distinctive voice, an eye for nuance, an ear for irony. Lahiri is one of the finest short story writers I've read."
- Amy Tan

"A wonderful new voice in American fiction. Lahiri is a sensitive chronicler of the immigrant experience, and her collection is wise and sophisticated."
- Bharati Mukherjee

APPEARING AT THE WORKSHOP

Interpreter of Maladies Book Party
Thursday, June 3, 7:00 PM
NYU's Asian/Pacific/American Studies Institute
269 Mercer Street, Room 609, New York City

Events are subject to change. Please call for more information.
* denotes off-site event


Since 1992, The Asian American Writers’ Workshop’s National Literary Caravan has brought Asian American writers to college campuses, community centers, national arts institutions, and bookstores. This semiannual tour brings literature to a nationwide audience that otherwise do not have access to resources outside metropolitan areas. Tour seasons have addressed a variety of themes such as Asian American sexuality, gender issues, and ethnically specific readings. The National Caravan has reached more than 40 cities in the continental United States including Texas, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania and most states in New England. AAWW has presented readings and events at 17 different locations in California alone.

The goal of the National Caravan is to bring Asian American literature to areas with minimal or no exposure to this segment of literature. The success of the National Literary Caravan stems mainly from the diversity of the tour participants. Through the Caravan, authors from different ethnic backgrounds and levels of experience are able to read together under the same venue. The caravan allows for emerging artists and students to learn and become inspired by established authors. Under-represented ethnicities such as South Asian, Filipino, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese American writers are able to expose their work in areas in which new voices are rare.


The most recent addition to our programs division is the performance series. Inaugurated in 1996, the Performance Series focuses on both the creation and presentation of new performance art pieces, as well as theatrical staged readings.

AAWW believes in that playwriting is an important aspect in Asian American literature. Since theatre writing is the source of form and structure in Western literature, AAWW has recently made a conscious effort in creating a venue to help nurture Asian American playwrights and their efforts to perfecting the craft of writing for the stage. Prestigious playwrights such as David Henry Hwang, Philip Kan Gotanda and Han Ong have presented events at AAWW.