It was great to have a literary event to attend yesterday evening in Oakland Chinatown, which is a part of Oakland that I love, and which is where I have spent and continue to spend so many of my waking hours working. It was also great to have Edwin Lozada come out to the East Bay to join us.
The Oakland Asian Cultural Center hosted a literary event curated by Neela Banerjee, Summi Kaipa, and Pireeni Sundaralingam, centered around the South Asian American poetry anthology in progress, Writing the Lines of Our Hands. In the spirit of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, this event was inclusive of other API women writers and authors; Minal Hajratwala, Aimee Suzara, Mimi Lok, and Diana Ip were also featured.
Between the featured writers, the curators took turns presenting samples of poetry from the anthology contributors, including Meena Alexander, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Reetika Vazirani, Tanuja Mehrota, as well as a short set of their own poetry. This was a really well-attended and well-presented event, which I am very pleased to have attended. As well, the warm and positive community energy of both the audience members and the presenters was quite palpable.