By Allan Cho
As North America’s only Asian-inspired writers festival, this year’s LiterASIAN was titled, GlobalAsian: from Grassroots to Globalization and featured authors and cultural activists from Canada, the United States, and across Asia. As “Asian” cannot easily be defined within geographical borders of one continent, but rather a conceptual collection of experiences and memories, LiterASIAN shines a spotlight that critically examines what it means to be a storyteller of Asian descent.
The Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop has introduced a generation of writers to the literary world, and this festival sets a stage for both established and new literary talent from a range of genres to share their ideas and stories, as a celebration of their craft. Allan Cho, the festival’s director and also a librarian at the University of British Columbia explains that “This festival is inspired by the idea that AAPI is intercultural, intergenerational, and international.”
This is the second year that LiterASIAN was virtually broadcast live across the world since the beginning of the pandemic. Featured writers at the festival included Larissa Lai, Grace Eiko Thomson, Sarah Suk, Jackie Lau, Diana Morita Cole, Diana Ng, JF Garrard, Cynda Yeasting, William Tham, Okky Madasari, Melissa De Silva, Danton Remoto, Andria Lo, and Valerie Luu. Book club discussions, and discussion panels were featured, and the Pender Guy Radio Collective including Ramona Mar, Jeannie Young and Paul Yee, and editors from Chinatown Today, Living Hyphen, Tributaries, decomp, and the Literary Circle of Asian Books.
LiterASIAN’s opening event announced the shortlist of 2021’s Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award. The Award originated in 1999 to help authors of Pacific Rim Asian heritage be published with an established publishing house. Canadian author Jamie Liew was the previous winner for her book ‘Dandelion’, soon to be published by Arsenal Pulp Press.
Intersectionality, Feminism, and Power – Writers Who Define our Times
May 1st, 2021 – link to video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1TBAWxC_g
Grace Eiko Thomson, Larissa Lai, Sarah Suk
Independent Authors or Self-Published Authors? Stories that We Live to Write About
May 8th, 2021- link to video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HSF0b3J6-I
Jackie Lau, Diana Morita Cole, Diana Ng, JF Garrard, Cynda Yeasting
It’s a Beautiful Neighbourhood: “Chinatown Pretty” Across North America
May 12th, 2021 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR_pHSwjsC0
Valerie Luu & Andria Lo of Chinatown Pretty
Writing Nusantara – Transcending Language and Borders
May 15th – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw47c7iCDH0
William Tham (Malaysia), Okky Madasari (Indonesia), Melissa De Silva (Singapore), Danton Remoto (Philippines)
Creating from Scratch: Asian Canadian Literary Publications and their role in publishing and the community – link to video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YahMLk8gtI0
May 22, 2021
Chinatown Today, Tributaries, Living Hyphen, and decomp magazine
The Pender Guy Radio Collective, 1976-1981: The Reunion Show
May 29, 2021 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oT6Av1igf4