Asian American Writers' Workshop

Our History Brings Us Here: A Reading and Conversation with Rhoni Blankenhorn, Luisa Igloria, and Michelle Peñaloza | @aaww-nyc.bsky.social

Date: October 8, 2025 | 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM ET

Type/Location: Virtual

buff.ly/CP9s2o9

With these crows for hands, I caress a flower The body of wings breeds a body of wings

"I know something about the nation from the way/ it resembles a body that could split another body."

Read this week's #PoetryTuesday piece, "With these crows for hands, I caress a flower" by Yunkyo Moon-Kim, in #TheMargins. 🐦‍⬛🌷

aaww.org/with-these-c...

Birth Country Changeling, mythical animal, delighting in the chase

"Today I long for your sand-white shore, the crash of tides against my skin, my body floating on your salt-crusted surface." 🌊

Read this week's #PoetryTuesday piece, “Birth Country” by Nghiem Tran, in #TheMargins.

aaww.org/birth-country/

Sharing some upcoming events ✨

Thur 9/25 @ 6 pm ET: A virtual @aaww-nyc.bsky.social event with @deliacai.bsky.social!

RSVP here: www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-in...

"To die in your bed surrounded by / those who tended your flame is a luxury afforded to few."

Poetry Editor @ritamookerjee.bsky.social published a poem in @aaww-nyc.bsky.social! buff.ly/421Hizy

Aasif Mandvi and Seema Jilani on stage at Town Hall - a logo for Inara with a donation QR code on the screen behind them.

At the deeply moving Voices for Gaza event at Town Hall. Please do consider donating to inara.org.

A Bollywood Story Even that night father refused to play the hero.

"He couldn’t even pretend to live her fantasy, and I see it slipping past her every day."

Read this week's #PoetryTuesday piece, "A Bollywood Story" by Gauri Awasthi, in #TheMargins. 🧊

aaww.org/a-bollywood-...

Library of Congress Names Arthur Sze the Nation's 25th U.S. Poet Laureate The Library of Congress today announced the appointment of Arthur Sze as the nation’s 25th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2025-2026.

NEWS: The Library of Congress is announcing the appointment of Arthur Sze as the nation’s 25th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2025-2026. Sze will begin his laureateship with a reading of his work on Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Library. newsroom.loc.gov/news/library...

therapy exercise // tension tell me why the image of tree bark makes you cry

"imagine setting down your burden
of questions & past harms. resting. basking."

New in #TheMargins' #PoetryTuesday column, read "therapy exercise // tension" by Genevieve Hartman. ⛅🍀

aaww.org/therapy-exer...

Reconnecting with the Sea, Reconnecting with My People Of my two birth tongues, why had only one made the crossing?

"The Bajau think of homeland in terms of water, not land." 🌊

In a new multimedia essay in #TheMargins' translation column,
Judi Mae "JM" Huck considers Sama, a language spoken in the Southern Philippines, its indigenous culture, and childhood lullabies. 🎶🐟

aaww.org/reconnecting...

I forgot to share my book tour info for WHERE ARE YOU REALLY FROM (@penguinpress.bsky.social)‬! I still have events in San Francisco and Las Vegas, as well as a virtual event with @aaww-nyc.bsky.social. Hope to see some of you there! I'll post details and links in the comments 💕

[VIRTUAL] In Celebration of Where Are You Really From Join AAWW for a celebration of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s Where Are You Really From, featuring Delia Cai!

Virtual 9/25 at 3 pm PT/6 pm ET: @aaww-nyc.bsky.social with Delia Cai! Free to attend, RSVP at the link below:

aaww.org/curation/vir...

Nobody talks about the irises, so I give them to myself I remember you, small one, uncertain origin, lost home

"Little deer in the meadow of the night, night was the name/ of your first friend"

Read this week's PoetryTuesday piece, "Nobody talks about the irises, so I give them to myself" by Rasha Abdulhadi, in #TheMargins. 🐍🪻

aaww.org/nobody-talks...

Dim Sum (點心) Can dim sum also mean to touch the heart?

Dylan Tran, a 2025 Relegation x @dcwritersroom.bsky.social Fellow has published new work appearing @aaww-nyc.bsky.social’s The Margins today: aaww.org/dim-sum-%E9%...

How to Cook for a Mom Who Can No Longer Cook My mom and I share a common language in food. Even at the peak of our most destructive and explosive fights, we would pause to eat together.

Is this… my first Bluesky post?? Absolutely honored to have an essay out now with @aaww-nyc.bsky.social!! Thank you to the team for giving this piece a home

aaww.org/how-to-cook-...

Searching for Shigeko Kubota The avant-garde video artist created autobiographical work that dares you to look closer.

"Life was to be scrupulously documented, an archive to be mined for art."

@terrynguyen.bsky.social examines avant-garde video artist #ShigekoKubota & her autobiographical work. Read more from "Searching for Shigeko Kubota" in #TheMargins. 📹🖼️

aaww.org/searching-fo...

The landscape of your heartbeats, more than 1,000 beats per minute I uncurl at the sight of you.

"I am a hummingbird tongue, tucked to the back/ of my own skull."

Read today's #PoetryTuesday piece, "The landscape of your heartbeats, more than 1,000 beats per minute" by @betsyaoki.bsky.social, in #TheMargins. 🐝

aaww.org/the-landscap...

Short King Becoming a drag king was mostly an accident.

i have a joyful little flash story out with @aaww-nyc.bsky.social !! 🥰 aaww.org/short-king/

Here’s a snap of author Nishant Batsha & Jafreen Uddin (exec director of @aaww-nyc.bsky.social) at Nishant’s NYC launch for his new novel “A Bomb Placed Close to the Heart” at Rizzoli Bookstore. Fantastic event, wonderful novel, beautiful bookstore. Put Nishant's novel on your summer reads list!

Two Poems by Rajiv Mohabir “Serenade” and “बहार / Spring”

"Take my pearl/ for now, a moon for my Moon." 🌙

Read two poems, “Serenade” and “बहार / Spring,” by @rajivmohabir.bsky.social in #TheMargins' newest folio, MEHFIL, a celebration of playfulness and performance across queer South Asian diaspora.

aaww.org/two-poems-by...

@aaww-nyc.bsky.social and IMGE Dance Kinetic Mixer

Date: July 10, 2025 | 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
Type/Location: In Person / New York, NY

buff.ly/rkZCw6F

IN MY DREAMS, WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER dark matter shows us the shadow selves of trees and perhaps my own as well

"then he tells me Not to worry, there is no right place to live, just that you live in the right now" ☁️

Read today's #PoetryTuesday piece, "IN MY DREAMS, WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER" by Tiffany Tai, in #TheMargins.

aaww.org/in-my-dreams/

Join @aaww-nyc.bsky.social for a celebration of MOTHERSALT by Mia Ayumi Malhotra and BECOMING GHOST by Cathy Lin Che, featuring readings by Sahar Muradi and Eugenia Leigh.

Date: June 17, 2025 | 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET
Type/Location: In Person / New York, NY

buff.ly/mUVvbYm

T4T we shudder red

"hungry / we paw each other good"

Read Aishvarya Arora’s poem, “T4T,” in MEHFIL, the latest folio in #TheMargins edited by Rajat Dayal Singh, with art by Jasjyot Singh Hans. 🌈

aaww.org/t4t/

When a Lamb Smokes a Cigarette The little lamb doesn’t know how to contain his beating heart anymore.

Yukti Narang has a new flash fiction piece up at @aaww-nyc.bsky.social

aaww.org/when-a-lamb-...

Read! And then check out her story "The Kitchen Glob" in THE BLAFT BOOK OF ANTI-CASTE SF

www.blaft.com/collections/...

Bosphorus Approximations Sometimes I wonder if belonging is to be approached gently, as if an abandoned thing.

It feels really special for this poem to have found a home in @aaww-nyc.bsky.social's #TheMargins at the tail end of #aapiheritagemonth! Many thanks to the team for looking after this little zuihitsu on the Bosphorus 🕌🫖🌹🐈 #PoetryTuesday

aaww.org/bosphorus-ap...

Sa is for Sunflowers this was never going to be easy

"it won’t be easy, they say,/ and I want to say show me an easy life" 🤲

Drawing on the structure of a raga, Shebati Sengupta’s poem begins in a pain that lilts, but ends in a breathless flourish. Read "Sa is for Sunflowers" in #TheMargins' MEHFIL folio.
aaww.org/sa-is-for-su... #mehfil

Oneiric Oneirically In this version, we’re both married. Happily.

"In this version, we’re both married. Happily."

Read this week's #PoetryTuesday piece, "Oneiric Oneirically" by Tuhin Bhowal, in #TheMargins. 🚙💍
aaww.org/oneiric-onei...

The Gangs of Chinatown In the Chinatown of my mother’s youth, everyone knew everyone.

"Between the seventies and nineties, Mott Street was feared. It was home to the Ghost Shadows Gang, or 鬼影幫, 'gwaiyingbong'."

Chloe K. Li explores her family's intertwined history with NYC's Chinatown in "The Gangs of Chinatown" for #TheMargins' Open City column. 🏮
aaww.org/the-gangs-of...

Breastfeeding During a Heatwave How do we care for our children and the environment?

“I learn to breastfeed during a heat wave. In Chicago, where I live, the heat index reads almost 120 degrees in August 2023.”

Read Nina Li Coomes’s “Breastfeeding During a Heatwave” in The Margins (@aaww-nyc.bsky.social) this #AsianPacificAmericanHeritageMonth: aaww.org/breastfeedin...