Come hang out with Kaya Press at the 2017 AWP Conference in Washington D.C. this February 8 – 11th.

AWP Conference and Bookfair 

Kaya Press will be sharing Booth 115 with Tia Chucha Press and the Asian American Literary Review — and, as usual, this will be THE place to celebrate writers of color. We’ll have our #LitinColor quotes and stickers, plus we’ll be launching three new books! Book artist Sushmita Mazumdar will also be leading an interactive art project, so come make a book with words we need for these dark times. AALR will be launching their much anticipated Open in Emergency: Special Issue on Asian American Mental Health, with special Tarot “readings” by contributing authors.

PANELS & READINGS

Say Yes to the Press: How Effective Small Publishers Do What They Do (Sponsored by SPD) | Thursday Feb. 9th | 9 – 10:15 am | Liberty Salon L | Marriott Marquis | Level 4

Kaya Press Managing Editor Neelanjana Banerjee joins a panel of other small presses to talk sustainability.

Going for Gold: Five Novelists Rewrite the Sports Narrative | Thursday Feb. 9th | 4:30 – 5:45 pm Liberty Salon L | Marriott Marquis | Level 4

Join forthcoming Kaya author Anelise Chen (So Many Olympic Exertions) and a panel of other writers rethinking the sports narrative, with VT Hung, Gabe Habash, and Tracy O’Neil.

Asian American Caucus | Thursday Feb. 9th | 6 – 7:15 pm | Salon F | Washington Convention Center

Town Hall-style meet up for Asian American writers.

Fracturing Memory, Crossing Borders: Transnational Memoir Writers Discuss Hybrid Necessities | Saturday Feb. 11th | 1:30 – 2:45 pm | Room 202B | Washington Convention Center

Join Kaya author QM Zhang (Accomplice to Memory) on a panel of other hybrid, transnational writers including Abeer Hoque and Tania De Rozario. Moderated by Minal Hajratwala.

BOOTH 115 SIGNINGS & LAUNCHES

The Flayed City Book Launch & Signing | 11:30 – 12:30 on Friday Feb. 10th | Booth 115

Come hang out with poet Hari Alluri for the pre-launch of his new collection The Flayed City. Alluri is described by Ilya Kaminsky as one who “offers lyric fire that heals the heart,” and we’ll celebrate the new book with food and festivity.

The Secret Room Book Launch & Signing | 2 – 2:30 pm on Sat. Feb. 11th | Booth 115 

Come hang out with author Kazim Ali for the pre-launch of his wildly inventive novel The Secret Room, written as musical score for a string quartet. Selah Saterstrom says: “This is a text that suggests not to worry about how to read it. Rather, it extends an invitation to allow the text to happen with us (and/or for us to happen with the text), and this is a Revolutionary Hermeneutics: to open to the experiences of pain and awe. Text as ambient drift we can move through (the same space where healing and magic happens).”

Accomplice to Memory Book Launch & Signing with Abeer Hoque | 3 – 4 pm Sat. Feb. 11th | Booth 115

Join debut author QM Zhang as we celebrate her striking experimental memoir Accomplice to Memory, described by Ruth Ozeki as “an exquisitely rendered map to the mysterious territory of history, memory and the imagination.” Abeer Hoque, Olive Witch (Harper360), will also be signing. Get ready for an hour-long celebration of hybrid literature!

Off-Site Events

#Lit-in-Color Write-a-Thon: Day of Writing Resistance | Wednesday Feb. 8th | 12 – 5 pm | FREE | Mulebone | 2121 14th St, NW Washington DC 20009

The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective and Kaya Press bring you an afternoon of creativity and collaboration in these dark times. Come out write, scheme and get grounded for the AWP conference and the next four years. Sponsored by the Smithsonian APA Center.

LITERAOKE II | Friday Feb. 10th | 8 – 10 pm | FREE | Dupont Underground | 1583, 1527 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036

The Smithsonian APA Center and Kaya Press bring together over 15 writers for a night of Karaoke smashers and hot readings by writers of color, featuring: Randa Jarrar, Lilliam Rivera, Hari Alluri, Rakesh Satyal and many more.