Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

  Giant Robot 2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd LA, CA 90025 310.445.9276 Friday, August 15 at 7:00pm – 9:00pm Giant Robot is stoked to host a night of readings from the best writers in America. The last time Ed Lin and traci kato-kiriyama read, it was a standing-room only crowd and every book for sale was snapped up. Now, joined with Nicky Sa-eun Schildkraut, it’s sure to be another memorable night. Neelanjana Banerjee, managing editor of Kaya Press, will MC the event, which Kaya is co-sponsoring. traci kato-kiriyama is a nationally-touring writer/actor/multi-platform artist/educator/organizer. She is half of the award-winning PULLproject ensemble, whose show, PULL: Tales of Obsession, has toured from Los Angeles to Toronto and recently appeared in East West Player’s 2-person site-specific show, Our American Voice. She is the organizer of the Generations Of War oral history & peace education project and Director/Co-Founder of Tuesday Night Project – which opened it’s 16th season of “Tuesday Night Cafe,” acknowledged in LA Weekly’s Best of L.A. 2013 list as “Best Free Downtown Performance Series.” traci has facilitated writing, performance and arts activism workshops & collaborations for over the last 15 years – including projects such as the Los Angeles Day Of Remembrance performance she directed which brought together Japanese American and American Muslim storytellers; and courses such as “Wellness & Expression in the Asian American Community” for the Claremont Colleges. traci’s written work has been published and presented through a wide variety of platforms (incl. Regent Press; The Undeniables; Rafu Shimpo; Angry Asian Man; Ford Amphitheatre’s Inside The Ford), and she looks forward to finding more time to finish her second book of poetry & writing, slated for publication in early 2015 by Writ Large Press. Nicky Sa-eun Schildkraut is a poet, scholar and teacher who teaches creative writing and college composition in Los Angeles. As a Korean adoptee, her creative and scholarly work reflects an ongoing interest to explore the emotional and historical aspects of the Korean diaspora as well as transnational adoption. Previously, she has collaborated on avant garde music and art projects with composers and visual artists. She earned an MFA in poetry (2002) and a PhD in literature and creative writing (2012) from the University of Southern California. Her first book of poetry, Magnetic Refrain, was published in February 2013 by Kaya Press. She is currently completing a second book titled Until Qualified For Pearl, containing lyrical and narrative poems, and a non-fiction critical book about adoption narratives in literature and film. [From Poetry Foundation] Ed Lin, a native New Yorker of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards and is an all-around standup kinda guy. Waylaid and This Is a Bust were both published by Kaya Press in 2002 and 2007, respectively, and were widely praised. Both books also won Members’ Choice Awards in the Asian American Literary Awards. His third book, Snakes Can’t Run, was published by Minotaur Books in April 2010; it was loved by many and also...
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tongue and Groove – Author Readings Friday 5/25 8pm Giant Robot 2  2062 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 310-445-9276 In celebration of National Asian American/Pacific Islanders Heritage month, Conrad Romo’s Tongue and Groove Series will make an appearance at Giant Robot 2 featuring Frannie Choi, Chiwan Choi, Ed Lin, Traci Kato Kiriyama and others bios Chiwan Choi is a writer, editor, teacher, and publisher Abductions is his second book of poetry. Ed Lin is the author of Waylaid,This Is a Bust and Snakes Can’t Run. Lin, who is of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards. The native New Yorker’s latest book is One Red Bastard, by Minotaur. He’ll be available to sign copies. Traci Akemi Kato-Kiriyama is the creator/ producer of Tuesday Night Café in Japan Town. She is a writer, performing artist, educator and  grassroots organizer. Franny Choi was a finalist at two of the three most prestigious poetry slams in the country: the National Poetry Slam and the Women of the World Poetry Slam. She was awarded Best Female Poet and Most Innovative at the 2011 Wade-Lewis Poetry Slam Invitational, and her team was specially recognized for Pushing the Art Forward at the 2011 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational. She was also the top-ranking female poet at the 2011 Southern Fried Poetry Slam and the champion of 2010 Seoul Poetry Slam Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles as well as an online equivalent. Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher eric@giantrobot.com  
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