Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) with Nancy Lynee Woo, Pete Hsu and Jeremy Ra: featured authors will have their books available for purchase

The reading will be followed by an open-mic and there will be light snacks and refreshments. Admission is free and open to the public.

Bel Canto Books is honored to host the I'D RATHER BE LIGHTNING Book Launch featuring Nancy Lynée Woo. Nancy will be joined by guest poets Julayne Lee (NOT MY WHITE SAVIOR), Arminé Iknadossian (ALL THAT WASTED FRUIT), and Susannah Lodge-Rigal (WHERE THE LIGHT FEEDS).

RSVP required; please select the ticket option that best fits your group. Attendees will be required to follow all current COVID-19 restrictions.

This is an indoor event at KUBO LB (3976 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach CA 90807).

EVENT SCHEDULE

• 3:45pm - Check-in begins

• 4:00pm - Event starts (welcome, poetry reading, audience Q&A)

• 5:00pm - Book signing & private shopping

• 6:00pm - Event ends

ABOUT THE BOOK

I’d Rather Be Lightning is a love song to the earth, celebrating what we stand to lose. These poems are “throwing a tantrum” about the climate crisis, written by a “child / of imperialism whining about freedom / from the bondage of stuff.” What do you get when you combine capitalism, environmentalism, ecology, globalization, fascism, economic crisis, and global pandemic? Nancy Lynée Woo transmutes anxiety into dynamic and playful poems, writing into the absurdity of the global crises facing humanity with a soft wit, enduring hope, and deep love for the more-than-human world. Eco-feminism moving at lightspeed, I’d Rather Be Lightning captures a Millennial’s despair over environmental destruction with bolts of humor, compassion, and formal experimentation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nancy Lynée Woo is a poet, writer, arts organizer, and climate activist who harbors a wild love for the natural world. Her debut poetry collection is called I’d Rather Be Lightning (GASHER Press, March 2023). Nancy has received fellowships from Artists at Work, PEN America, Arts Council for Long Beach, and Idyllwild Writers Week. Nancy has an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University and a BA in sociology from UC Santa Cruz. Find her cavorting around Long Beach (Tongva land) in California, and online at nancylyneewoo.com or @fancifulnance on social.

ABOUT THE GUEST POETS

Julayne Lee is an adopted Korean poet & artivist. Her debut collection of poems Not My White Savior was on Bitch Media's Bitchreads: 15 Books Feminists Should Read in March and Entropy's Best of 2018: Best Poetry Books & Poetry Collections. Not My White Savior has been taught in Freshman Lit, Race & Ethnicity & other courses. Julayne has read and spoken on adoption at universities & symposiums in the U.S. & Korea. You can find her words in The Washington Post, The Nervous Breakdown & elsewhere @julayneelle.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Arminé Iknadossian immigrated to the United States in 1978 to escape the civil war. She is the author of All That Wasted Fruit (Main Street Rag Press). She earned an MFA from Antioch University where she was awarded a fellowship from Summer Poetry in Idyllwild. During her tenure as a teacher, The Los Angeles Writing Project awarded Iknadossian a fellowship for their summer residency. Armine serves on the Advisory Board of IALA (International Armenian Literary Association) and currently lives close to the sea with Henry the Cat. Find out more at armineiknadossian.com.

Susannah Lodge-Rigal is a writer and educator based in Berkeley, California. Raised in Bloomington, Indiana, she received a B.A. from Knox College and M.F.A. from Colorado State University, where she was awarded the 2019 Academy of American Poets Prize. Susannah is the author of WHERE THE LIGHT FEEDS (Gasher Press, 2023), and her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Black Warrior Review, Seneca Review, Colorado Review, Missouri Review - Poem of the Week, Puerto del Sol, DIAGRAM, The Journal, Ruminate, and elsewhere.

I'D RATHER BE LIGHTNING Book Launch featuring Nancy Lynée Woo, with special guests Julayne Lee, Arminé Iknadossian, and Susannah Lodge-Rigal, hosted by Bel Canto Books in Long Beach, California

*Signature Room, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 5

Have you ever applied for a fellowship, residency, or grant and wondered if your application has what it takes to be a top contender? This is a rare chance to hear from a diverse group of authors who’ve served on selection committees for state and national grants as well as fellowships and residencies. You will gain a better understanding of what judges are looking for, what goes into the selection process and how you might identify which fellowships, residencies, and grants are the best fit.

LibroMobile Presents

OC’s Literary Arts Festival at Heritage Museum!

Saturday, March 5, 2023 from 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Join us for a day of live literary readings & music along with artisan vendors, food & beverages & the announcement of our annual Modesta Avila award!

Schedule: 12-8pm
12-2pm Heritage Museum, Bookstore, Crear Studio Kid Activities & Vendors & Food Trucks Open

2pm Drag Queen Story Time with Foxxy Blue Snacks

3:30pm SanTana Poets y Más
Youth Poets Dulce, Kimberly, Jacqueline
Kunthon Meas
Melanie Romero
George Hammons
Maya Chinchilla
Julayne Lee

4:30pm Librarians with Spines

5:30pm OC Prose Writers
Lori Polydoros
Janette Villafana
Alan Nakagawa
Carribean Fragoza

6pm Modesta Avila Award & Keynote Speaker: Elvia Susana Rubalcava

6:30pm Taller Bula (5:30pm workshop in booth)

All Day DJ Yuri La Caminante

Heritage Museum of Orange County, 3101 W Harvard St, Santa Ana, CA 92704, USA

This event is free & open to the public, supported in part by LibroMobile Arts Cooperative (LMAC).

This is a monthly reading group (book club) for adult Korean adoptees (KADs).

Workshops: Professional Etiquette and Salary Expectations

Consultations: Career Strategy

Poetry Reading by Julayne Lee & Performance by Kim Ye

Including work by Jerri Allyn, Se Young Au, Chantal Barlow, Roxy Farhat, Luka Fisher, Chuck Hohng, Wednesday Kim, Lau Hochi, Julayne Lee, MATERNAL FANTASIES, David Noel, Norma Hernandez Peña, Nicole Rademacher, Pranay Reddy, Sheree Rose, Kayla Tange, Huidi Xiang, Kim Ye, and Caroline Yoo

Empowering Women of Color Conference (EWOCC)

I will provide some prompt questions regarding being child free and will share my own experience. The content will be driven by participant discussion and sharing of their experiences being childfree. Have you been asked why you don’t have children or when you’re going to have children? Being childfree whether by choice or circumstance can be isolating and carries sometimes unfamiliar and often unacceptable emotions. How has being childfree shaped your identity and how have you navigated expectations of others? How does being LGBTQ+ impact being childfree? We are socialized to get married and have children and yet this is not preferred by nor is it possible for everyone.

Book launch for Jenny Qi’s debut poetry collection “Focal Point” with Bryan Byrdlong and Julayne Lee

Who knew I’d be reading at a soccer gathering. Excited to read new and old poems with my favorite fubolistas! Registration required to join this virtual gathering.

This Saturday with Sarah Rafael Garcia Bookstore Owner & Founder of LibroMobile in conversation with : @julayneelle Author of Not My White Savior 📚

Follow LibroMobile on instagram! https://www.instagram.com/libromobile/

Have you been asked why you don’t have children or when you’re going to have children? These questions come from family, friends and strangers. Being childfree whether by choice or not can be isolating and carries sometimes unfamiliar and often unacceptable emotions. How has being childfree shaped your identity and how have you navigated expectations of others? How does being LGBTQ+ impact being childfree? Childfree living should be honored instead of questioned. This session for those who do not have children to come together and share the challenges and benefits of being childfree.

"How do you use writing as an empowering tool to give yourself voice so others don't speak for you? Our voices matter, yet are often silenced by whiteness and lack of ancestral knowledge. Beyond imagining a world where we thrive, how do we create this world, keep this space and sustain it for the next generations? Through writing & discussion, we’ll reflect on our journeys including what we've lost, how we navigate ambiguous identities and reclaim and harness our collective power. This workshop is open to all. No writing experience necessary. "

Adoptees, join me on Twitter to have your voice heard!

Join us for a library-wide showcase of talented Bay Area authors! We will have tables set up throughout the library where you can meet the authors, buy their books, and have them signed. The Book Fair will feature a wide array of authors across many different genres, including Nonfiction, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Children's and more! We will also be hosting a Q & A session with a selected group of authors in our 1st Floor Program Room at 3 PM.

Have you wondered what it would be like to know someone who looks like you? For adoptees who do not have children and have not reunited with our Korean families, this may never be possible. If this is part of your adoption journey, how has it impacted your identity as an adoptee?

This session is for those who have not connected a 1st or 2nd degree relative either in person or online AND who also do not have their own, biological children. If you do not meet these requirements, we request you honor the space by selecting one of the other amazing sessions during this time slot.

This FREE workshop for adoptees is made possible by Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link (G.O.A.’L.).

Our voices matter, yet are often silenced by adoption and/or whiteness and sometimes this occurs within our own adoptive families. Through writing & discussion, we’ll reflect on our journeys as adoptees and foster alum of color and how we navigate our identities. You’ll have the opportunity to share your writing with others in the workshop if you so choose (sharing is optional).

AKA-SF is thrilled Julayne Lee will be joining us for a second time to lead a writing workshop and discussion for Adoptees and Foster Alum of Color.

Our voices matter, yet are often silenced by adoption and/or whiteness and sometimes this occurs within our own adoptive families. Through writing & discussion, we’ll reflect on our journeys as adoptees and foster alum of color and how we navigate our identities. You’ll have the opportunity to share your writing with others in the workshop if you so choose (sharing is optional).