Categories
Music Poetry

Genny Lim and Hafez Modirzadeh Perform

5 poems about Palestine with Genny Lim (poet) and Hafez Modirzadeh (saxophone).

These poems were written ten years before Oct. 7, 2023 when the Hamas attacks on Israel triggered a retaliatory siege and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

I wrote the poems at the peak of Palestinian resistance, when peaceful demonstrations were violently met with sniper fire, tear gas and arrests by the IDF. Palestinian children were shot and killed or arrested for throwing stones at IDF and, often, storm troopers barged into Palestinian homes in the middle of the night and dragged family members out to prison, where they were interrogated and often beaten and issued long sentences without legal counsel.

These poems attempt to bear witness to the suffering and pain of the Palestinian people under Occupation.

— GENNY LIM

01 – Fifth Sun.mp3
02 – The Rose.mp3
03 – Koan1.mp3
04 – Gaza.mp3
05 – The Valley1.mp3

Includes “Gaza” which was used on “In Your Ear”, Apex Express and Raza Chronicles on KPFA.

Produced by Freedom Archives, 2013.

Authors: Genny Lim, Hafez Modirzadeh • Year: 2013 • Call Number: CD 931 • Format: CD • Producers: Greg Landau, Claude Marks • Collection: Compact discs representing digitized copies of analog tapes

Categories
Mural Poetry Reading

Manifest Differently

“We the People solemnly swear to Manifest our Common Destiny as a diverse and multicultural global humanity with respect and recognition of the freedom, equality and sovereignty of all nations and peoples on our blessed planet earth, in opposition to the destructive and unsustainable path of war, extraction, over-consumption and imperialism, on which the colonial forefathers have set us on and which continues to harm all life forms on this planet, from the greatest to smallest each and every day.”

— GENNY LIM

✨Poetry Reading✨
W/ poets:
Genny Lim
Kim Shuck
MK Chavez
Tongo Eisen-Martin

Saturday, Sept. 30th, 4:30 pm, Book Castle, 443 Cortland Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110

✨Led by Clarion Alley Mural Project, Manifest Differently is a new project developed and directed by Kim Shuck and Megan Wilson.

✨Over the next year, 2023/24, we’ll be working together with 38 diverse, multigenerational visual/media artists and poets to interrogate the history of Manifest Destiny and its legacies of inherited and perpetuated violence, trauma, and addiction, and the outgrowth of resistance and resilience – giving fire to movements for social/ culture change.

✨The project is supported by independent curator Trisha Lagaso Goldberg, California historian Barbara Berglund Sokolov, humanities advisors Mary Jean Robertson, Kyoko Sato, Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu, Anita Chang, and David A. M. Goldberg.

Categories
Performance Poetry

Genny Lim Live at Kahua ‘Elua Theatre

An Afternoon of Poetry & Conversation on Sunday, August 27, 2023 at 4pm

East Hawai’i Cultural Center, 141 Kalākaua St., Hilo, HI 96720

This event is free, but advance reservations are required.

Click HERE to reserve your spot!

For more information, visit the East Hawai’i Cultural Center website https://ehcc.org/

Categories
Performance

Japan Day 2023

Japan Day Celebration, July 9, 12pm-5pm. Free

The Imperceptible Nature1:15pm-1:45pm on the Peace Plaza Stage

GenRyu Arts and the Merchants of the Japan Center Malls present Japan Week. This summer cultural festival returns in its 11th year celebrating the culture of Japan and Japantown. Throughout the first week of July, there will be events, workshops and performances by master artists, musicians and cultural bearers.

At the end of the week, the cultural festival culminates in Japan Day. Join the celebration of Japanese cultural arts at this free event on three stages at the Peace Plaza stage, Japan Center East Mall (2nd floor), and Studio Gen (East Mall, Suite 505)! Hear the exhilarating sound of taiko drums and see colorful Japanese dancers with live musicians. Watch karate, Okinawan music, and dance. Besides the exciting performances, there will be demonstrations of Origami paper folding, Washi Ningyo paper dolls, Shodo calligraphy. Bring your friends and family. No tickets needed.

Peace Plaza Stage

Gen Taiko and Odori School

International Karate League

Sakura Ren

The Imperceptible Nature (collaboration Genny Lim, Nozawa MatsuQ, Melody Takata, Benita Ushikubo and International Karate League)

Northern California Okinawa Kenjin Kai

Gintenkai National Project

East Mall 2nd Floor Demonstration & Workshop Stage

12:00pm – 1:00pm Washi Ningyo Japanese Paper Dolls

1:30pm – 2:30pm Origami Japanese Paper Folding

3:00pm – 4:00pm Shodo Japanese Calligraphy

East Mall 2nd Floor Suite 505, Studio Gen Stage

12:30pm – 1:00pm Gidayu Shamisen Traditional Japanese Joruri Narrative Music

2:30pm – 3:00pm Ozashiki Shamisen Traditional Japanese Chamber Music

Categories
Writing Workshop

The Diaspora Writers’ Group

Sat, May 6th, 2023 at 4:00 pm

This Zoom event is free and open to the public. Advance registration is requested.

This new writing workshop conducted by Genny Lim brings together young and mature writers from across the AAPI/BIPOC/LBGTQ diaspora. Their fresh, powerful voices celebrate and reclaim their identities from the destructive narrative of the white lens. From writing prompts designed to penetrate layers of the subconscious and memories hidden or suppressed as the result of generational trauma and racism, their stories unravel the broken histories, the pain and their personal journeys to reconciliation and healing.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Danni Tsuboi, Chrysalis Hyon, Sapho Flor, Sally Chang, Tasha Essen, Vickie Chang, Angela Bau, Tiff Lin, LiZhen Wang, Melanie Gin, Rich Pauloo, Samina Jain, John Lee

Diaspora Writing Workshop Reading | The 26th United States of Asian America Festival

Diaspora Writing Workshop Reading is co-presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, as part of the 26th United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF). For the full calendar of events: https://tinyurl.com/usaaf2023.

#USAAF2023 #ReimaginingHorizons #APAHeritageMonth #AAPI #AsianAmerican #BIPOC

Categories
Writing Workshop

Memory, Meaning and Memoir Workshop 2023

Friday, April 28th, 2023 at 5 pm on Zoom.

Memory, Meaning and Memoir Reading | The 26th United States of Asian America Festival

This event is free and open to the public. Advance registration is requested.

APICC is proud to present this live-streamed reading by artists, educators, veteran activists and writers of all levels from the AAPI community. They will share their stories and poems written in the course of a memoir writing workshop conducted by poet-playwright, Genny Lim.

The on-going, online workshops have met every week throughout the pandemic, providing a safe haven for building community through shared writing that excavates the truths buried by historic racism and deep, generational trauma.

These memoir pieces were written in response to weekly writing prompts provided by Genny Lim. The writers are proud to share their new work.

Participating Artists

Leon Sun, Leslie Yee Murata, Casimiro Tolentino, Susan Hayase, Grace Morizawa, Lynn Huang, Carole Chinn-Morales, Lisa Oyama, and Noah Kawaguchi

About the Artists

Susan Hayase is a long-time activist in the San Jose Japanese American community.  She played taiko from 1980 to 1990 with San Jose Taiko, and was involved in the grassroots movement for redress/reparations.  She is a co-founder of San Jose Nikkei Resisters, a multi-generational community organization in San Jose Japantown.

Lynn Huang is a dancer, aspiring writer, and GYROTONIC(R) trainer. Originally from New York City, she currently dances with Lenora Lee Dance and is also a 2023 AsianImprovArts fellow. 

Carole Chinn-Morales: Carole Chinn-Morales was born and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Carole came to writing late in life, after retirement from teaching at City College of San Francisco. She is thrilled to belong to Genny’s writing group,  grateful for the chance to explore, listen to writers with diverse voices, and to discover her own.

Noah Kawaguchi is a musician and writer from Ohio. He plays the shakuhachi and often creates work that reflects his perspective as a mixed shin-nisei Japanese American from the Midwest. 

Lisa Oyama enjoys gardening, Japanese flower arranging, volunteering with various API organizations, and dancing when nobody is watching. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and dog, but will always be a Gardena girl at heart.

Leon Sun is a San Francisco based visual artist whose work was embedded in the social activism of the 1970s to the 1990s. He currently works mainly in silkscreen printing, inspired by the spirituality of Asian and indigenous cultures. Sun writes from his memories of growing up in Shanghai, Hong Kong and as an immigrant in America. He is also trying his hand at poetry and enjoys writing haiku. 

Casimiro U. Tolentino is a retired Judge and practiced as a civil rights attorney. He has taught AAPI history classes and enjoys reading, photography and continuing writing about AAPI history and issues. 

Grace Morizawa is a former elementary school teacher in Oakland and a former San Pablo principal. She is the education coordinator for the National Japanese American Historical Society, writing and teaching about Japanese American incarceration during World War II. After decades of teaching and dabbling in writing, Genny Lim’s class opened the door to add her voice to the increasing scene of Asian American stories.

Leslie Yee-Murata

Writer
Artist
Healer
Lover of Learning the Mysteries of Inner and Outer Space

The Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center of San Francisco announces and celebrates the 26th Annual United States of Asian America Festival.

USAAF 2023: REIMAGINING HORIZONS

Each year, the United States of Asian American Festival (USAAF) presents up to 20 different programs reflecting the artistic accomplishments and cultural diversity of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander and Asian American communities. USAAF showcases artists representing a diverse range of ethnic and cultural groups and aims to heighten the visibility of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists working in all disciplines – theater, music, dance, film, literature, visual arts, and more! Our goal is to nurture and empower these groups to be self-sufficient while providing the support they need to grow. 

Check out the FULL USAAF 2023 calendar of events at apiculturalcenter.org/usaaf_2023_calendar

This year’s USAAF is funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, California Arts Council, Zellerbach Family Foundation and startsmall

Categories
Poetry

Hechizos: Incantation of Art & Poetry

Sunday, March 26, 6 PM; Medicine for Nightmares, 3036 24th Street, San Francisco, CA

Leticia Hernández (Host), featuring poetry by: Naomi H. Quiñonez, M.K.Chavez, Genny Lim

Categories
Poetry Reading

Poetry in Chinatown

Feb 18, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM; Clarion Performing Arts Center, 2 Waverly Pl, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA

3rd Saturday Poetry in Chinatown is a monthly reading series. It is curated by poet Greg Pond. In this series, each reading will have two featured poets. There will be an open mic before and after each feature. In this inaugural reading we’re honored to present poet, playwright and performer Genny Lim, and San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin. Sign up to read at the open mic at 1 pm. We will accommodate as many participants as we can. 

Genny Lim is a recipient of the PEN Oakland Reginald Lockett and Berkeley Poetry Festival Lifetime Achievement Awards. She was San Francisco Jazz Poet Laureate (2016-2018). Her award-winning play Paper Angels has been produced throughout the U.S., in Canada and China. She is author of five poetry collections, Winter Place, Child of War, Paper Gods and Rebels, KRA!, La Morte Del Tempo, and co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, winner of the American Book Award. Lim has collaborated with numerous jazz musicians, including Max Roach, Jon Jang, Francis Wong, Marcus Shelby and Del Sol String Quartet.

Tongo Eisen-Martin is a San Francisco native. He graduated from Columbia University and taught at its Institute for Research in African-American Studies. He created the 2012 curriculum We Charge Genocide Again. Tongo has also taught at detention centers, including San Quentin and Rikers Island. He is the co-founder of Black Freighter Press.

Honors and awards

Eisen-Martin’s 2017 book Heaven Is All Goodbyes, published by City Lights, won a PEN Oakland Award, the 2018 American Book Award, 2018 California Book Award, and 2018 National California Booksellers Association Poetry Book of the Year. His 2020 title, Blood on the Fog, published by City Lights was named a Best Poetry Book of 2021 by Elisa Gabbert of the New York Times

Categories
Poetry Reading

Odd Mondays

Monday, December 5, 7pm to 8pm Bethany Methodist Church

Odd Mondays welcomes authors Peter Kupfer, Genny Lim, and Michael David Lukas on Monday, December 5 from 7pm to 8pm in-person at 1270 Sanchez Street (Bethany Methodist Church) in Noe Valley, San Francisco. Free admission. Masks required by the venue. One block west of the Clipper Street stop on the J MUNI.

Peter will read from his new historical memoir The Glassmaker’s Son, Genny from her poetry collection Child of War, and Michael from his novel The Last Watchman of Old Cairo.

Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event and in-store and online with Folio Books San Francisco, 3957 24th Street in Noe Valley.

About the Authors

Peter Kupfer is a San Francisco-based writer, editor, and photographer. His stories about business and technology, the arts and culture, and other subjects have appeared in major newspapers and magazines, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Observer, and Metropolis magazine. He was a copy editor at the San Francisco Chronicle for many years. The Glassmaker’s Son is his first book. 

Genny Lim is San Francisco Jazz Poet Laureate emeritus. Lim’s award-winning play, Paper Angels, was the first Asian American play aired on PBS’s American Playhouse in 1985 and has been performed throughout the U.S., Canada and China. She is author of five poetry collections, Winter Place, Child of War, Paper Gods and RebelsKRA!La Morte Del Tempo, and co-author, along with the late Him Mark Lai and Judy Yung, of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, which won the American Book Award in 1980. Her recent anthology of Senior Asian American memoirs, Window: Glimpses of Our Storied Past, includes the stories of former World War II Camp survivors. Lim has worked with past Jazz legends, such as Max Roach and long-time collaborators, Jon Jang, John Santos, Francis Wong and Anthony Brown. She is a member of The Last Hoisan Poets with Nellie Wong and Flo Oy Wong, who recently collaborated with Del Sol String Quartet in the United States of Asian America Festival.

Translated into more than a dozen languages, Michael David Lukas‘ first novel The Oracle of Stamboul was a finalist for the California Book Award, the NCIBA Book of the Year Award, and the Harold U. Ribalow Prize. His second novel, The Last Watchman of Old Cairo, won the Sami Rohr Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, the Prix Interallié for Foreign Fiction, and the ALA’s Sophie Brody Medal. A recipient of scholarships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Montalvo Arts Center, William J. Fulbright Foundation, and Elizabeth George Foundation. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Slate, National Geographic Traveler, and Georgia Review. He lives in Oakland and teaches at San Francisco State University.

Categories
Music Poetry

Corazón del Barrio: Celebrating Our Indigenous Origins

Sunday, October 30, 2022, 5pm to 7pm at the new Baobab, 2243 Mission St., between 18th & 19th

Sorry this site disable right click
Sorry this site disable selection
Sorry this site is not allow cut.
Sorry this site is not allow copy.
Sorry this site is not allow paste.
Sorry this site is not allow to inspect element.
Sorry this site is not allow to view source.