Hmong writers coming to Merced
Members of the Fresno-based Hmong American Writers’ Circle are set to read from their works at a free event at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center.
The Merced Arts Council has organized the workshop and reading session with Circle members Soul Vang, Pos L. Moua, Anthony Cody and Ying Thao. The free reading is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 7, at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center, 645 W. Main St. in Merced.
The pieces come from “How Do I Begin?: A Hmong American Literary Anthology,” which was edited by the Hmong American Writers’ Circle members. The authors also are set to sell and sign their books. No reservations are required for the reading, according to organizers.
The Hmong American Writers’ Circle was founded in 2004 in Fresno by writer and poet Burlee Vang with a goal of discovering and nurturing creative writing within the Hmong community, according to the group’s website, hmongwriters.org.
Soul Vang is a poet, teacher and U.S. Army veteran, according to the Circle’s website. He is the author of “To Live Here,” which won the 2014 Imaginary Friends Poetry Prize. Vang also published the first book of poetry by a Hmong American writer, according to the group’s website.
Hmong-American writer Moua has written several short poems about his childhood experience during the Vietnam War and about living in and around the Central Valley, according to the group’s website. He’s written “Towards the World Where The Torches are Burning,” among other works.
Cody was born in Fresno, and has ancestors who were in the Dust Bowl migration and bracero program, which brought Mexican farmworkers to the U.S. His work has been published and performed publicly, according to the group’s website. He served as managing director of arts and culture at El Taller Latino Americano in New York before returning to Fresno.
Thao gives voice to the experience of being both a gay man and a Hmong man as these identities are seemingly diametrically opposed culturally and socially, according to the group’s website.
Before the reading, a workshop is also planned for beginning and experienced writers from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the center. Participants will break into two groups, with one focusing on revision and resuscitation of a piece and the other on generating new work, according to a news release.
Organizers are asking workshop participants to contribute $10. Register by emailing coordinator Dawn Trook at dtrook@gmail.com.
For more information, call the Arts Center at 209-388-1090.
This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 10:05 AM with the headline "Hmong writers coming to Merced."