FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Hmong Playwright and Poet to Perform
Minneapolis, MN – Hmong Arts Connection (HArC) formerly Hmong American Institute for Learning (HAIL) in St. Paul will host reading by Hmong playwright, fiction writer and poet, Ka Vang, who will be reading her short stories that were included in two bestselling anthologies. The event will also feature readings by local author, Shannon Olson, and hosted by actress, Katie Ka Vang. Through Ka Vang’s poetry, spoken word and folktales, the evening will be an exhilarating experience of Hmong, English and Hmonglish as she exposes the Hmong American experience to a broader community.
Ka Vang, an award-winning writer, will be reading “Butterfly Cycles,” her short story from best-selling anthology, Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mother, edited by Kathryn Kysar and published by Borealis Books. She will also be reading “Meet Mr. Krenshaw,” her short story from best-selling anthology, Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories, edited by Catherine Lundoff and published by Lethe Press.
The reading is part of the REmix: Intergenerational Hmong Art Exhibition at the Homewood GALLERY in Minneapolis, featuring the works of Hmong visual artists.
When? Saturday, July 19 / 6:30pm – 9pm
Where? Homewood Gallery - 2400 Plymouth Ave No, Minneapolis
Cost? Free and open to the public. A book signing will immediately follow the reading.
Ka Vang, a columnist for the Minnesota Women’s Press and former Archibald Bush Foundation Artist Fellow. Her play, From Shadows to Light, was produced was produced by Theater Mu at the Mixed Blood Theater. Her plays have been performed in the Twin Cities, Wisconsin and New York City. She has had over a dozen short stories and poems published in anthologies, magazines and journals. She performs frequently across the country and is actively involved in Asian American community issues. She has performed in packed auditoriums to small cafes. For a more complete biography you can check out her myspace page - http://www.myspace/kavangwriter
Shannon Olson is the author of Welcome to My Planet: Where English is Sometimes Spoken, and Children of God Go Bowling.
HArC is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote and inspire artistic expressions of Hmong culture. It publishes up-and-coming Hmong writers and artists’ work in Paj Ntaub Voice, a literary arts journal since 1994. Services are provided to writers and artists so that they will be successful, and the oral arts are documented. HArC also aims to share cultural knowledge about the Hmong with the broader community. The art exhibition and subsequent Hmong arts events and activities are made possible in part by the St. Paul Travelers Foundation and the McKnight Foundation.
