2024 Asian American Literature Festival
thank you!
Thank you for joining us at the 2024 Asian American Literature Festival on September 14–22, organized by the AALF Collective! Over the course of 9 days, we came together across space and time to celebrate the role of Asian diasporic literature in creating community. We hosted over 100 Asian American artists at 24 planned events, including readings, panel conversations, book fairs, book swaps, literaoke, meetups, and more. We also raised over $3,000 for Life for Gaza, and we invite you to contribute here to continue supporting efforts towards rebuilding Gaza’s water infrastructure.
Cosmic Kinship:
literature across space and time
Curated and produced by a collective of artists, librarians, educators, scholars, and publishers, this is the only festival of its kind. The AALF will convene writers and readers through immersive in-person and hybrid events, including interactive installations, readings, salons, and workshops.
For the first time in its history, the AALF will take place both across the country and globally, with an international presence in Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Australia. Cities hosting events include Athens and Atlanta, GA; Champaign-Urbana, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Honolulu, HI; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA.
Using outer space as a unifying visual metaphor for practicing solidarity across distance and time, the festival explores how the Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Asian diasporic literary communities can align themselves with their most marginalized members.
EVENT ARCHIVE
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Moonrise: an Invocation with Tarot by Mimi Khúc and Readings by Ching-In Chen, Sarah Park Dahlen, Wing Tek Lum, & Ansley Moon, Virtual, 6:00pm – 7:00pm ET
San Francisco | Kearny Street Workshop and Chinese Culture Center present the Asian American Literary Festival San Francisco Bay Area Book Fair, Exhibiting Authors: Nellie Wong (keynote speaker), Swetha Amit, Diana Fu, Sora Han, Heyday Books, Lisa Hsia, Traci Huahn, Susan Kiyo Ito, Zara Jamshed, Jadie Jang (Claire Light), Margaret Lee, Marisa Lin, Giovanna Lomanto, Ryan Nakano, Grace Loh Prasad, Sampaguita Press, Crystal Tai, Hotam Press, Tiffany Trieu, Ambika Vohra, & Julia Vee, in person, Chinese Cultural Center, 4:00pm – 7:00pm PT
Australia + Aotearoa | Slow Currents Presents Hasib Hourani + Cathy Linh Che; Saraid de Silva + Gowri Koneswaran; Chris Tse + Panda Wong in Conversation, virtual, available throughout festival | More here
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Atlanta, Georgia | The Georgia Review x Lostintheletters presents Siwar Masannat + Brandon Som, in person, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, 3:00pm – 5:00pm ET
New York, New York | AAWW presents the Meena Alexander
Reading Room, in person, 12pm – 3:00pm ET | More here
New York, New York | AAWW x Reorienting Reads Pre-Launch for We the Gathered Heat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word with Fatimah Asghar, Franny Choi, Noah Arhm Choi, Yalini Dream, & Jess X Snow, Hybrid, 3:00pm – 4:30pm ET
San Francisco | Debbi Michiko Florence at Books Inc. Laurel Village, in person, 3:00pm – 4:00pm PT
Monday, September 16, 2024
Kaya Press presents First Pass: Editing from Beyond the Margins: A Conversation with Yuka Igarashi with Austin Nguyen, virtual, 10AM–12PM PT / 1PM-3PM ET
Athens, Georgia | The Georgia Review and UGA present Siwar Masannat + Brandon Som, in person, The Georgia Museum of Art, 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Urbana-Champaign, IL | Rising from the Ashes: Fighting Back by Writing Back Book Event With Paula Yoo, in person, U of Illinois Asian American Cultural Center, 12pm – 1:00pm, CT
Urbana-Champaign, IL | Rising from the Ashes: Fighting Back by Writing Back Book Event With Paula Yoo, Sarah Park Dahlen, and Edith Campbell, in person, U of Illinois Asian American Cultural Center, 6:30pm – 8:00pm CT
New York, New York | AAWW presents the Meena Alexander Reading Room, in person, 12pm – 6:00pm ET | More here
Los Angeles, California | Kaya Press x Tuesday Night Cafe Literaoke, in partnership with Palms Up Academy and Sunday Jump, featuring the TNC House Band led by Shin Kawasaki, in person and online, 7:30pm – 9:30pm PT
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
New York, New York | AAWW x Reorienting Reads Meetup & Book Swap for Trans, Intersex, Nonbinary & Gender-Expansive People, in person, AAWW, 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Seattle, Washington + New York, NY | Reorienting Reads Reading with Ally Ang, Såhi Velasco, Yanyi, Persimmon Tobing, Pauline Park, Wo Chan, Fatimah Asghar, hybrid, Common Area Maintenance in Seattle and AAWW in NY, 5:00pm – 6:30pm PT / 8:00pm – 9:30pm ET
Seattle, Washington | Mam's Bookstore x Reorienting Reads x CAM, Trans Books Pop-Up, in person, Common Area Maintenance, 5:00pm – 7:00pm PT
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Honolulu, Hawaii | Hawaiʻi Literature Plate Lunch: a taste of poetry and prose from BAMBOO RIDGE Issue #126, hosted by guest editor Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, featuring Dorell Ben, Alden Hayashi, Sarah Lacey Irvine, Tyler Miranda, Rajiv Mohabir, Susan Miho Nunes, Mahealani Perez Wendt, virtual, 1:00pm – 2:30pm HT | Video
Los Angeles, California | Kaya Press x Beyond Baroque, I ask about what falls away: Los Angeles Launch, in collaboration with The Digital Sala & Sampaguita Press featuring Jason Magabo Perez, MT Vallarta, David Maduli, Angela Penaredondo & Maria Bolanos in-person; Hari Alluri, Rachelle Cruz & Joseph “Butch” Schwarzkopfin virtually, hybrid, Beyond Baroque, 8:00pm – 10:00pm PT
Friday, September 20, 2024
Honolulu, Hawaii | "Anden What?" Bamboo Ridge Talk Story + Preview, with Wing Tek Lum, Donald Carreira Ching, Scott Kikkawa, & Tamara Wong Morrison, virtual, 1:00pm – 2:30pm HT | Video
Saturday, September 21, 2024
New York, New York | AAWW, Reorienting Reads, and Friends present The Homeland in My Body: a marathon reading, community literaoke, and fundraiser for Palestinian liberation with Leena Aboutaleb, Rasha Abdulhadi, Hannah Lilith Asadi, Farah Barqawi, Tarik Dobbs, Irene Hsu, Inam Kang, Sofia Koyama, and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, hybrid, People’s Forum, 3:00pm – 7:00pm ET
Long Beach, CA | Kaya Press x Bel Canto Books x KUBO LB present Storytime + Signing with Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young and Marie Chan, in person, KUBO Long Beach, 11:30am–1:30pm PT
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Moonset: an Exhalation with Readings by Tanzila Ahmed, Aria Curtis, Tiana Nobile, Mohamad Saleh, & Gein Wong: An Exhalation, virtual, 6:00pm – 7:00pm ET
2024 Asian American Literature Festival Sponsors
Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU
Poets & Writers
Project Voice Fund
Who we are
The Asian American Literature Festival Collective is a cooperative devoted to stewarding the futures of Asian American literature as art form and social ecosystem. Organizing partners within the collective include the Asian American Literary Archive, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Bamboo Ridge, The Georgia Review, Kaya Press, Kearny Street Workshop, KidLit with Sarah Park Dahlen, Reorienting Reads, Slow Currents (Liminal x Satellites), and The Starlings Collective.
After the Smithsonian’s cancellation of the 2023 Festival, the AALFC is proud to convene an independently organized and collectively funded iteration of the Festival for 2024.
what we do
We believe the AALF is not only a celebration of Asian American literature but also a dream enacted of what persistent, just, and caring stewardship could look like for Asian American literature. We work to include all attendees by remixing what literary programming can be.
We celebrate the Festival, and Asian American literature, as a social space: a place where friendships are born, mentorships are exchanged, and secret histories are passed down, so they no longer have to linger in the shadows.
CONTACT Us
Questions? Let us know, and we will respond. We are eager to connect with you!