Come write with me (and Chinaka Hodge and Nayomi Munaweera) in San Francisco this summer! Kearny Street Workshop, in collaboration with California Institute of Integral Studies, is re-launching the Interdisciplinary Writers Lab (IWL), a 3-month, multi-genre master class for local writers scheduled for summer, 2015. IWL is a unique program that challenges emerging writers to thoroughly explore and develop their writing skills and styles across multiple genres. Applications due on March 23, 2015.
Spring 2015 Readings... Palo Alto, Fresno, Oakland
Upcoming readings in Palo Alto (1/25), Fresno (2/7), and Oakland (4/4). More info here!
Interview for the blog, "Writing Like an Asian."
Five questions, five answers at Writing Like an Asian.
"No history of suicide or insomnia / in my family..."
Three brand new poems up on Connotation Press: An Online Artifact.
"Woman Warrior walks into a bar..."
Three poems, about a woman warrior, published in The Normal School. Thank you, Normal School editors!
Last SF/Bay Area reading of the year: Sat, Nov 15th
On Sat, Nov 15th @ 7:30pm, I'll be reading at The Great Star Theater in SF's Chinatown, with Green Lion's Feerie and Word Performances. Tickets coming soon...
"16 Women Writers Who'll inspire You to Write"
Thanks to Bustle and Gina Vaynshteyn for including me on this list. "Brynn Saito’s poems truly sing. Her book, The Palace of Contemplating Departure, is easy to fall in love with because the words and lines transition so fluidly. You can tell her poems (which work well on the page) translate on stage, too, which is important, especially if you’re a poet who wants to perform live..."
13 books - The Palace included!
"13 Books to Consider Reading Before You Start Your MFA program." Thanks for the nod, Gina Vaynshteyn!
Finalist, Binghamton Poetry Award
Thank you, SUNY Binghamton and Joe Weil, for nominating The Palace of Contemplating Departure for the 2014 Binghamton University Milt Kessler Poetry Award! Many congrats to Jim Daniels, winner of this year's award.
Five questions...
Short talk with fellow poet, Jason Bayani, one of the organizers of the wonderful Berkeley Poetry Slam.
Northern California Book Award nomination
The Palace of Contemplating Departure was just nominated for a 2013 Northern California Book Award! The awards will be announced on Sun, April 27th in San Francisco.
April readings!
Photo by Andre Yang
Upcoming readings, celebrating National Poetry Month: Gillis Library in Fresno, on April 19th, LitSlam on April 21st (Mission District, SF), Word Performances on April 23rd (also in the Mission) and the Berkeley Poetry Slam on May 7th. Come one, come all.
Reflections on the first book
I wrote a short piece on the first book for the Red Hen Press blog. "If writing is an act of solitude—a wildly lonely feat—then the book has been a boat, a way of carrying my solitude into the wider world." Read on here.
The Palace is reviewed by NewPages
Thank you, NewPages and Theresé Samson Wenham for posting a review of The Palace of Contemplating Departure. "In her debut collection, Brynn Saito carries uncertainties and measures them out against the known and the unknown. Saito finds an enthralling voice for complex emotions about race, war, identity, scars, ghosts, family, and suffering." Read on at NewPages.
Thank you, Wendy Chin-Tanner, for a lively conversation!
Thank you to Wendy and Lantern Review for a wonderful conversation. As I note in the interview, "both my experience in the Kundiman fellowship and my friendship with Traci Brimhall have taught me that being a good literary citizen is about cultivating authentic connections and caring about one another. It’s about believing in and championing one another’s work. It’s a model that goes against the individualism so prevalent in a competitive, capitalistic North American social framework."
"Bright Power" and "The Palace" make 2013 staff pick lists
Thanks to Vandana Khanna and Wendy Chin-Tanner at the Lantern Review for recommending Bright Power, Dark Peace and The Palace of Contemplating Departure as top poetry books published in 2013!
Kundiman Writer-In-Residence, Sierra Nevada College
Through Jan 31st, I'll be near Lake Tahoe, at Sierra Nevada College, as the Kundiman Writer-in-Residence. Very grateful for this opportunity. Let the writing begin...
Rounding out the year in So Cal...
Three upcoming readings in Southern California! Nov 16th at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Nov 17th at Moonday West, & Dec 8th at the Bluebird Reading Series. Details here.
A new review, by Tyler Mills
Thank you, Tyler Mills and The Collagist, for a new review of The Palace of Contemplating Departure. "The voices in this collection will stay in your head; they are voices that refuse what is easy for what is real, and they create beauty out of illusion—as devastating, and necessary, as that illusion is." Read the full review here.
Fall Readings...
On Sat, Sept 21: A celebration party for Tess Taylor's The Forage House, feat. Kate Gale, Camille Dungy, and this moi (111 Minna Gallery on Minna near Mission and 2nd). Portland on Sept 26; SF's Lit Crawl on Oct 19; and LA on Nov 16, 17, and Dec 8. Come one, come all. Details here.