A Reading in Interior Garden with Jane Wong and Shelley Wong

750 Kearny St,San Francisco CA 94108

29 April, 2022

Description

Join us in celebration of the new book releases of Jane Wong's "How to Not Be Afraid of Everything" and Shelley Wong's "As She Appears"! Co-presented by Kearny Street Workshop, the Chinese Culture Center, and Kundiman, this event is about the expanse of love, for the self, family, community, and the generations who brought us here -- reaching forward and back across histories, landscapes, and dining tables. This special programming is hosted at the “Interior Garden”, a solo exhibition and indoor ceramic sculpture garden by artist Cathy Lu. Interior Garden uses traditional Chinese garden tropes to create a contemplative space that reconciles the promise of the American Dream and the dystopian experiences of so many immigrants and people of color in the US. You can also purchase your copy of How to Not Be Afraid of Everything by Jane Wong through Eastwind Books and pre-order As She Appears by Shelley Wong through YesYes Books. COVID GuidelinesMasks are required to be on at all times in indoor spaces. We will be checking proof of vaccination with a valid ID. RSVP strongly recommended. About the Authors Jane Wong is the author of How to Not Be Afraid of Everything (Alice James, 2021) and Overpour (Action Books, 2016). Her debut memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City is forthcoming from Tin House in 2023. A Kundiman fellow, she is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships and residencies from Harvard's Woodberry Poetry Room, the U.S. Fulbright Program, Artist Trust, the Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf, Hedgebrook, Willapa Bay, the Jentel Foundation, and others. She is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Western Washington University. Shelley Wong is the author of As She Appears (YesYes Books, May 2022), winner of the 2019 Pamet River Prize. Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, and New England Review. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from Kundiman, MacDowell, and Vermont Studio Center. She is an affiliate artist at Headlands Center for the Arts and lives in San Francisco. Presenters:Kearny Street WorkshopFounded in 1972, during the height of the Asian American cultural movement, Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) is the oldest Asian Pacific American multidisciplinary arts organization in the country. KSW offers classes and workshops, salons, and student presentations, as well as professionally curated and produced exhibitions, performances, readings, and screenings. KSW makes artists out of community members and community members out of artists. For the past 50 years, KSW has nurtured the creative spirit, offered an important platform for new voices to be heard, and connected artists with community. Chinese Culture Center of San FranciscoChinese Culture Center (CCC) is a non-profit arts organization established in 1965. CCC elevates underserved communities and gives voice to equality through education and contemporary art. Rooted in San Francisco’s Chinatown, CCC is a loud and creative voice to uplift social and economical transformation. We provide a safe environment for artists who champion activism, resiliency, and healthy communities. In doing so, we shift dominant narratives, empower change, and reimagine our futures. KundimanKundiman is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing generations of writers and readers of Asian American literature. Kundiman creates a space where Asian Americans can explore, through art, the unique challenges that face the new and ever changing diaspora. We see the arts as a tool of empowerment, of education and liberation, of addressing proactively the legacy we will leave for our future. Interior Garden is supported by: Institute of Museum and Library Services , National Endowment for the Arts, #StartSmall, California Arts Council, and Fleishhacker Foundation Additional Support: The San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, California Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, CCC Contemporaries