They Rise Like a Wave Teaching Toolkit

Event Title: They Rise Like a Wave: An Anthology of Asian American Women Poets

Event Description: Blue Oak Press celebrates the publication of They Rise Like a Wave: An Anthology of Asian American Women Poets, which explores the depth and diversity of contemporary work by Asian American women and non-binary poets. It provides an artifact of the range of responses to both personal and political forces, including the Trump presidency, the COVID pandemic, and the recent rise in anti-Asian violence. Panelists will speak to the evolving stakes of what it means to write as an Asian American poet.

Event Category: Poetry craft & criticism

Event Agenda: The moderator will begin by welcoming attendees, providing a brief background of the editorial impetus behind the anthology (including reading excerpts from the introduction), and introducing the panelists whose work is included in the anthology. The moderator will introduce each panelist and ask them to read their poems from the anthology. The moderator will then open up discussion and invite the panelists to speak to how they see their work contributing to the Asian American poetic tradition. The panel will end with a ten-to-fifteen minute audience Q&A.

Moderator Questions:
1) Can you speak to how you feel about the label “Asian American poet”? Does it feel liberating, constricting, or somewhere in between?
2) How would you begin to define the Asian American poetic tradition or an Asian American poetics?
3) You agreed to having your work included in They Rise Like a Wave. How do you envision the importance of such an anthology?