Writers Guild Spoken Word Series: Observing Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

We grieve for the families of Atlanta,

especially the children, how their mothers

won’t live to see them achieve

the hopes of our ancestors

who believed in gold…

—Lisa Kwong

Responding to the Atlanta spa shootings, Asian American poet Lisa Kwong read these lines from her original poem, “An Asian American Elegy for Atlanta,” at the Justice for AAPI online vigil on 23 March 2021. Sponsored by the City of Bloomington in collaboration with the Indiana University Asian Culture Center and the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs, the vigil was one of numerous organized responses to the shootings that activated national consciousness about the value of Asian lives.

David Mura | Photo courtesy of AZ Quotes

The shootings also unleashed #StopAsianHate hashtags and ignited conversations about the precarious ambiguity about what it means to be Asian American. To be Asian, however American, is dangerous in this volatile post-Trump era when people of Asian descent have been hatefully stigmatized as coronavirus carriers. This volatile, discursive climate has also rehashed debates about gun control and hate crime legislation — conversations that continue to heat up after the Indianapolis FedEx shooting.

In response to the Atlanta and Indianapolis shootings, and to the numerous other reported acts of violence against Americans of Asian descent, #StopAsianHate will predictably be the focus for this year’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. At the same time, the unique contributions of Asian American poets, writers, artists, and musicians will be celebrated nationwide throughout this year’s AAPI Heritage Month in May.

Locally, the May 2021 virtual edition of the First Wednesdays Spoken Word Series, sponsored by the Writers Guild at Bloomington, will feature four Asian American performers: David Mura, Kyoko Kitamura, Danny Thanh Nguyen, and Anni Liu. Performances will be followed by a live thirty-minute Q&A session moderated by Indiana Poet Laureate finalist Tony Brewer.

Here’s a brief introduction to the performers. Click on their names to learn more about them.

Kyoko Kitamura | Photo by Michael Weintrob

Kyoko Kitamura is an avant-garde jazz vocal improviser and composer based in New York City. She is also known for her decade-long partnership with musician and composer Anthony Braxton and has been featured on many of his releases. Her formal musical training included the study of piano at Juilliard Pre-College and private lessons for counterpoint and Schoenberg harmony.

When asked if there was anything she would like to share with LP, she admitted that the pandemic had led to sweeping overnight changes for Tri-Centric Foundation, the nonprofit organization that supports Anthony Braxton’s ongoing work and legacy. “We had an entire year of scheduling cancelled in a blink of an eye,” she said. The Foundation has effectively struggled to remain active, but Kitamura has made the difficult decision of resigning as its current executive director to focus on her own work as a freelance musician.

Anni Liu | Photo courtesy of Indiana Public Media

Anni Liu is a poet, writer, editor, and translator based in Minneapolis. She was awarded a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from Indiana University–Bloomington where she served as poetry editor for Indiana Review. Her work has been featured in publications that include Ploughshares, Hyphen, The Georgia Review, and Quarterly West, and she has won an Undocupoets Fellowship and a literature award from the National Society for Arts and Letters, among other honors. Winner of the Lexi Radinsky Prize, her first poetry book, Border Vista, will be released by Persea Books in 2022.

Together with Yusaku Yajima, Liu started up the Bloomington Japanese/Japanese American Community, a Japanese-culture interest group whose activities included viewings of Japanese films, such as After the Storm (directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, 2016) at the Herman B Wells Library, and Shoplifters (directed by Koreeda, 2018) at Indiana University Cinema, followed by dinner at Gourmet Garden or Chow Bar. The group’s activities have been on hiatus since the start of the pandemic.

Unapologetically committed to consciousness-raising about “the alienation and psychic cost of migration, of internalized racism and Whiteness,” Liu has remained resilient and hopeful throughout the pandemic. Although pandemic-induced isolation has made her “hungrier for the world and for genuine connection,” it has also intensified her memories, and enabled her to “imagine more deeply, more wildly.”