Authors Justin Chin, Alvin Lu, and Jeffery Paul Chan will read and discuss their writing at three separate events in October as part of a new Asian American Writers Series, sponsored by the UCSC Living Writers Reading Series.
Organized by Karen Tei Yamashita, UCSC associate professor of literature/creative writing, the series is designed to honor the writing of Asian American writers and provide students, faculty and the local Santa Cruz community direct access to their work. All events will take place on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at UCSC's Humanities Lecture Hall 206. Admission is free.
On Tuesday, October 9, Justin Chin will read from his latest collection of poetry, Gutted, a document of growing older that has been described as "a massively moving work of grief, loss, comfort, illness, and resolve--imbued with Chin's unique screwy perspective, ever-defective grace, and scabrous humor." Gutted was recently awarded the Publishing Triangle's 2007 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry and is a finalist in the Lambda Literary Awards and the Association of Asian American Studies Book Awards. Chin has also written three collections of essays: Burden of Ashes (Alyson Press), Mongrel: Essays, Diatribes and Pranks (St. Martin's Press), and Attack of the Man-Eating Lotus Blossoms (Suspect Thoughts Press).
Alvin Lu will discuss his debut novel, The Hell Screens, on October 16. A resident of San Francisco, Lu's short stories, criticism, and articles have been published in Film Comment, The New Review of Literature, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, ZYZZYVA, and the recent anthology, San Francisco Noir.
Chinese American author Jeffery Paul Chan--author of Eat Everything Before You Die: A Chinaman in the Counterculture, will round out the series on October 30. Chan cofounded the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University and is a professor emeritus of Asian American Studies and English. He is the co-editor of Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Writers and The Big Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Chinese American and Japanese American Literature.
Copies of the authors' books will be on sale following each reading. The Asian American Writers Series is co-sponsored by the UCSC Creative Writing Program, Literature Department, Porter College George Hitchcock Poetry Fund, Institute for Humanities Research, and the Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center.
For more information and/or disability accommodation, call (831) 459-5349 or e-mail: aapirc@ucsc.edu
