The Poetry of Vengeance

Friday, April 16, 2021

6:30-7:30 PM CST

In light of the violence done to Asian women this year, Funny Asian Women Kollective (FAWK) and hclou art present an evening of poetry centering on Asian women and non-binary folx.

This event is free and open to the public. However, if you would like to show support for organizations working on behalf of the Asian American community, we encourage you to be part of the interconnected campaign benefitting Coalition for Asian American Leaders (CAAL) and Red Canary Song organized by afternoon printing x hclou art campaign. More details at  hclouart.com or https://afternoon-printing.printavo.com/merch/interconnected/       

PERFORMER BIOS

May Lee-Yang is a writer, performance artist, and teacher who often uses pop culture and humor to interrogate race, gender, and identity. She is a former Bush Leadership Fellow, a Playwright Center McKnight Fellow. Her theater-based works include The Korean Drama Addict’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity and Confessions of a Lazy Hmong Woman, and she is a co-founder of Funny Asian Women Kollective, a group that uses comedy to combat the invisibility and dehumanization of Asian women.  

hclou is an angry gemini earth dragon, multiracial, asian, queer, cisgender, disabled, survivor/surviving, anxious, and depressed womxn of color artist and educator based in st. paul, minnesota, which is the hxstorical occupied land of the Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples.

Michelle Myers is an award-winning poet, community activist, and educator.  Born in Seoul, South Korea to a Korean mother and a white American father serving in the United States Air Force, she draws from her personal experiences as a biracial Korean American woman to write poetry that challenges mainstream misconceptions of Asianness and explores the intersections of race, culture, gender, community, and self. She is a founding member of the spoken word poetry group, Yellow Rage, and as a solo artist, she has received many awards, including a 2014 Leeway Foundation Transformation Award. Her work has been published in Apiary Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Title Magazine, and Brevity Magazine. Most recently, she has been selected as a Dodge Poet by the Dodge Poetry Program, an affiliate of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and featured as a Festival Poet in the 2020 Dodge Poetry Festival.    Drop the Mic, a CCPTV spoken word poetry show that she co-created and hosts, has been nominated for six Emmys.  

Sun Yung Shin's third book of poems Unbearable Splendor won a Minnesota Book Award. She is the author of three other poetry collections, with The Wet Hex forthcoming in 2021. She is the editor of three anthologies of prose, most recently What We Hunger For: Refugee & Immigrant Writers on Food & Family and A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota. Her forthcoming co-written illustrated book for children is Where We Come From. With fellow Korean immigrant poet Su Hwang, author of BODEGA, she co-directs Poetry Asylum in Minneapolis.  

Catzie Vilayphonh is an award-winning writer, spoken word poet and multi-media artist. As a founding member of the group Yellow Rage she was one of the first Asian American women to appear on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. Through her work, she provides an awareness not often heard, drawing from personal narrative. She runs a community arts org, Laos In The House, and is also a Commissioner on the Mayor's Commission on Asian American Affairs of Philadelphia and the only non-citizen Councilmember to the Pennsylvania Council on The Arts. A child of refugees, Catzie was born in camp, on the way to America, and thus considers herself part of the ".5 Generation".

Minna Zhou is a second generation Chinese American writer and radio producer. Their writing has appeared in publications including Pitchfork, The Fader, MTV, City Pages (RIP), and many others; they have produced radio for KFAI and American Public Media. Much of their writing today can be found on their blog, Shrimp Chips (shrimpchips.blog), which centers on issues in and across "Asian America"--a term they recognize is flawed but that they still think can be powerful. Locally, they have been involved in RadAzns, PAVE, and other grassroots community groups. Did they mention they have a blog called Shrimp Chips (shrimpchips.blog)?

Denise Hanh Huynh is a poet, educator, and scholar. She is also a puppet (but no one has permission to puppeteer her except herself). She is a Voices of Our Nation Arts (VONA) Foundation and Monkeybear's Harmolodic Workshop alum. Her poetry and performance work has appeared across publications and venues such as Coffee House Press, Public Art Saint Paul, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Theater Mu, Open Eye Theatre, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Denise is currently completing a PhD in Education focused on arts, culture and teaching, and literacy. Her research and practice are motivated by experiences of miseducation and opportunities we lack to learn about our ancestors and ourselves. Denise is interested in the creative efforts we make to come home to ourselves through embodied ways of knowing. Find her at denisehuynh.com

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.