Notes on the Anthology reading

Thanks to Oakland Asian Cultural Center (and directors Mona Shah and April Kim) for ensuring a huge turn-out for our reading. It was standing room only last Friday as we took to the mic. Delighted to see what a warm response the anthology received. Good, too, to find how seamlessly the poems from the anthology dovetailed with readings from our other Asian American writers. Based on the feedback we've since received, the interconnections and resonances seemed to work well in highlighting the anthology's strength as a literary bridge between communities.

Favorite moments?

NEELA: Hearing poems from the anthology read aloud. Especially, hearing Minal Hajratwala read and discuss her poem "Angerfish," which is a poem I have read over and over for the duration of our editing process and loved. It was so enlightening and beautiful to hear Minal read it and discuss its origins. I also loved the two fiction readers -- Mimi Lok and Diana Ip -- and how the theme of Chinese seniors connected the two stories beautifully. I love synchronisity like that in reading.

PIREENI: Good to hear the range of different voices, both among our fiction guests and among our own contributing poets. Hearing the poems read out, in these particular permutations, let me discover new threads of thought between what _had_ seemed like familiar pieces. Good, too, to see how excited the audience were about the anthology: and it's not even out yet...

SUMMI: I was blown away by the resonances between the stories and poems presented by Mimi Loc, Diana Ip, and Aimee Suzara and the poems from our own anthology, by Tanuja Mehrotra, Subashini Kaligotla, and Meena Alexander (read by the editors). The intersections between styles and stories were proof of the benefits of existing in a multi-cultural Asian American space where we can learn from both similarities and differences. It was also great to hear Minal Hajratwala read both her poetry and her fiction. Her live performance made tangible the intent of Writing the Lines of Our Hands, exciting us (the editors) and the audience about the forthcoming anthology.

And here's a blog report from one of our audiences members (poet Barbara Jane Reyes):
http://bjanepr.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/literary-evening-in-oakland-chinatown/