During UCLA’s Spring 2025 quarter, Kaya Press Managing Editor Neelanjana Banerjee returned to campus to teach a course on the publishing industry through the Asian American Studies Department. For 10 weeks, each student investigated the current state of publishing while collecting work from peers, family members, and others to curate their own publications. Their work culminated in a showcase event at the end of the quarter — an opportunity to present excerpts from their finished pieces to each other and their collaborators.

This year’s showcase theme, “On the Ground,” emerged from class discussions about the crucial role that grassroots and independent publishing efforts play when mainstream publishing consistently fails to represent diverse perspectives. Now, as the largest American institutions reject DEI, community-based “on the ground” publishing presents a crucial challenge to the hegemonic fallacies that attempt to erase and silence marginalized communities. 

The “Flâneurs” issue of Alex Bravo’s publication Big Club! takes inspiration from the flâneur figure – one who wanders and observes – in an exploratory collection of works that range from a vignette featuring a cat on a windowsill to a satire of Asian stereotypes.

The Little Yellow House peers into the lives of the tenants in Alyssa Avila’s titular yellow house. Drawing upon creative works from her roommates, the editor preserves the memories from this space and the close friendships that flourished there.

Journey in the West is Branden Barnes’s confrontation with the institutional erasure and revision of Asian American identity. This collection articulates the aches of Asian American familial relationships that balance alienation and familiarity, suffering and hope.

An Anthology of Corners by Veronica Hankil and Candice Au-Yeung makes space for readers to take a deep breath and explore myriad expressions of comfort and rest.

Elle Hatamiya, Chloe Nimpoeno, and Isaac Cheng highlight personal narratives and achievements of Asian American athletes in PITCH. By reflecting on the role of athletics in Asian American communities, the editors create representation that is lacking in mainstream publications.

Daniel Nguyen’s Voices Against the Bamboo Ceiling investigates Asian Americans’ experiences in the corporate world, with reflections and interviews discussing how one’s racial identity impacts every step in one’s professional journey. 

Healing in Color by Katherine Juarez affirms healing for people of color as a practice that takes on unique social, emotional, political, and spiritual dimensions. Contributors reflect not only on the memories that have caused them the most pain, but also on the recovery and joy they found in healing.

Shan Villanueva celebrates small moments of transition with her publication, In Between the Sunlight. The tension of living as the after and as the before, of having enough yet wanting more, comes alive in this collection.

Olivia Sieve’s zine, RE-VISION, grapples with the contrast between the physical realities of one’s body and the social constructs that define it. Authors reconcile their self-identity with a world that identifies them differently through shifts in time, place of origin, and gender identity.

Homesick to Myself by Yei Ji Seo features collaborators from 5 different countries reflecting on their memories of homesickness. In this publication, longing for one’s home and loved ones manifests in myriad ways, from irremediable loneliness to pining over adequate public transportation.

The first volume of Heritage by Sean Joo blends family anecdotes with historical research to unearth narratives of Korean immigration to the United States. 

Elisa Xu weaves together letters and photographs from graduating UCLA students in Four Years Later, documenting narratives of curiosity, self-discovery, and growth.

In the Thundering Rain by Jordan Espinoza Ramirez exposes mechanisms of romance, laying bare the furtive daydreams and unspoken anxieties that underlie this experience.

Thank you to all the students and collaborators who contributed to these publications!