Friends & Neighbors: Kundiman Poetry Prize Deadline – Jan 15

We posted about it in our December Holiday Roundup, but since the postmark deadline for Kundiman’s Poetry Prize is this week, we wanted to put out the call one last time.

KundimanPrizeLogo

From Sarah Gambito:

“Kundiman and Alice James Books will be accepting submissions of poetry manuscripts for The Kundiman Poetry Prize.  The deadline is January 15, 2010.

The Kundiman Poetry Prize welcomes submissions from emerging as well as established Asian American poets. Entrants must reside in the United States.

The winner receives $2000, book publication and a feature New York City reading.”

Application guidelines can be found here. Or, read more about Alice James Books here.

Friends & Neighbors: Holiday Events Roundup (Dec. 23, 2009 – Jan. 11, 2010)

Things in the literary scene are winding down for the year, and the LR staff is going to be taking some time off from the blog for the holidays starting tomorrow (December 23), and ending on January 8th.  It’s been a great last few months, and we’ve been bowled over again and again by your support and enthusiasm as this community has begun to take root.  Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be taking time to rest, spend time with friends and family, attend to personal matters, and prepare for LR’s next steps in 2010. In light of the fact that we’ll be taking such a long span of time off, we’ve decided that four our events roundup this week, we will cover a longer time period than usual.  The Holiday Roundup below covers events happening from December 23rd until January 11th, and, since there are several contests and festivals with deadlines coming up in the next month or so, we’ve also included a list of calls for entries.   As always, please let us know of any corrections that need to be made, or if you have an event that you’d like to add.  Happy Holidays!

Continue reading “Friends & Neighbors: Holiday Events Roundup (Dec. 23, 2009 – Jan. 11, 2010)”

Friends & Neighbors: The Asian American Literary Review

The Asian American Literary Review Logo

We recently received word about The Asian American Literary Review, a new and exciting journal that will soon be available by subscription.

Says Editor Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis:

“The Asian American Literary Review is a space for writers who consider the designation ‘Asian American’ a fruitful starting point for artistic vision and community. In showcasing the work of established and emerging writers, the journal aims to incubate dialogues and, just as importantly, open those dialogues to regional, national, and international audiences of all constituencies. We select work that is, as Marianne Moore once put it, ‘an expression of our needs…[and] feeling, modified by the writer’s moral and technical insights.’ AALR features fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, comic art, interviews, and book reviews.

Our first issue, debuting in April 2010, features forum responses by Alexander Chee, David Mura, and Ru Freeman; poetry by Cathy Song, Oliver de la Paz, Paisley Rekdal, April Naoko Heck, Mong-Lan, Eugene Gloria, Nick Carbo, and David Woo; Karen Tei Yamashita interviewed by Kandice Chuh; prose by Ed Lin, Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Sonya Chung, Hasanthika Sirisena, David Mura, Gary Pak, and Brian Ascalon Roley; and book reviews by Paul Lai, Timothy Yu, and Jennifer Ann Ho.”

Lawrence speculates that submissions will likely open sometime in late spring or early summer of 2010.  In the meantime, please head on over and check out their temporary web site, or leave them some love on Facebook by joining their group

Friends & Neighbors: Weekend Roundup (Dec. 17-21, 2009)

This week, in addition to readings, open mic’s & performances, we’ve also included a couple of local book sale events.  And be sure to check out your local independent bookseller or a university or small press’s online shop this week if you’re looking for holiday gifts; help support the dedicated small businesses that make the publication and promotion of contemporary poetry possible!

Continue reading “Friends & Neighbors: Weekend Roundup (Dec. 17-21, 2009)”

Friends & Neighbors: Sesshu Foster and Giveaway at Molossus

Sesshu Foster's World Ball Notebook
Sesshu Foster's World Ball Notebook

We mentioned Sesshu Foster’s award-winning collection World Ball Notebook  back in November, when we did a post about the winners of the 2009 Asian American Literary Awards.

Well, it’s recently come to our attention that the magazine/blog Molossus, which bills itself as “an online broadside of world literature,” has posted a lovely conversation with Sesshu and is offering its readers a chance to win a free copy of World Ball Notebook in partnership with City Lights (winner to be announced this Wednesday, Dec. 16th). 

We loved what Sesshu had to say about using elements of indigenous heritage as “political and social iconography and ideology” rather than as “ethnography.”  Here’s an excerpt:

Our identity as Americans, as citizens of whatever it may be, is collectively bound up in on-going discourse and dialogue about our relations, our culture and history. Times change, and we can’t recycle categorical definitions of ethnic character that are forty years old any more than we can recycle racist assumptions about the self from the 19th century. People do, of course, but writers are supposed to be hipper than that, more up to date.

To read more of the interview or to enter the giveaway, head on over to Molossus and check out their full post: “Atomik Aztek: A Conversation with Sesshu Foster + Book Giveaway!” [on Molossus]

Friends & Neighbors: Weekend Roundup (Dec. 11-16, 2009)

A short-ish list this time around.  Events happening this weekend – and into next weekend – for your perusal.  As usual, please feel free to suggest updates and additions. 

Continue reading “Friends & Neighbors: Weekend Roundup (Dec. 11-16, 2009)”

Friends & Neighbors: Cha Issue 9, Kartika Review Issue 6

Our friends at Cha: An Asian Literary Journal and Kartika Review both put up their newest issues last week.  Please head on over to check them out. Here’s quick rundown of the goods in store:

Cha Issue 9
Cha Issue 9

Cha: An Asian Literary Journal celebrates its second anniversary with a stunning 9th Issue, guest edited by Reid Mitchell (poetry) and Jonathan Mendelsohn (prose).  I especially admired the cinematic textures of “Mope,” the second of two poems by Caroline Bird, the earthy resonances of Arlene Kim’s “The Tiger-Brother,” and the deft syntactical footwork of Kate Rogers’ “Sai Ying Pun Sestina.”  Also worth checking out is their Lost Teas section, which features reprinted work that has been “lost” due to the folding of its original place of publication.

Kartika Review Issue 6
Kartika Review Issue 6

Kartika Review‘s Issue 6 is also fantastic, featuring poetry, fiction, and non-fiction by a number of rising Asian American artists.  One of my own poems was selected for this issue, and I am both thrilled and honored that they’ve chosen to include my work in such an exciting lineup.  My personal favorites from Issue 6’s poetry section are Mary Chi-Whi Kim’s “Pyongyang Phantom Feeling, 1952,” for its sharply visceral, arresting imagery, and Lee Minh Sloca’s conversational, but incisive examination of Asian American masculinity in “Just[ice] Please.”  Kartika also just announced its Pushcart nominations.  In poetry, they selected Kenji Liu’s beautifully spare “Letter to Myself as a Newborn” and Ocean Vuong’s intimate elegy, “Dear Vietnam,” both from Issue 5.  Congrats to both poets on this honor!

Many congratulations to both Cha and Kartika on the launch of these new issues.  We admire the work that you’re doing, and look forward to reading what’s next!

http://www.kartikareview.com/issue5/5liu.htm

Friends & Neighbors: Weekend Roundup (Nov. 13-15, 2009)

For your perusal, a list of interesting literary, arts, and cultural events happening in different cities this weekend. (To add to this list, leave a comment below; we will continue to check back and update it during the next few days).

Continue reading “Friends & Neighbors: Weekend Roundup (Nov. 13-15, 2009)”

Friends & Neighbors: 2009 Asian American Literary Awards

2009 AsAm Literary Awards for Poetry: Winner & Finalists
2009 Asian American Literary Awards for Poetry: Winner & Finalists

In anticipation of their annual literary festival, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop has announced the winners of its 2009 Asian American Literary Awards.  In the poetry category, Sesshu Foster’s World Ball Notebook took top honors, while Monica Ferrell’s Beasts for the Chase and Jeffrey Yang’s An Aquarium were named as finalists.  The contest was judged by poet Cathy Park Hong, Stanford professor Stephen H. Sohn, and Williams College professor Dorothy Wang. Continue reading “Friends & Neighbors: 2009 Asian American Literary Awards”