Author: DVAN Reading Series | Southeast Asian Solidarity

Experience an inspiring evening of poetry and fiction at Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network's (DVAN) autumn reading event, featuring Barbara Jane Reyes, Beverly Parayno, Karen Llagas, and Krysada Phounsiri, in partnership with the San Francisco Public Library at the Booksmith.

Barbara Jane Reyes was born in Manila, Philippines, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and is the author of Gravities of Center (Arkipelago Books 2003), Poeta en San Francisco (TinFish Press 2005), Diwata (BOA Editions Ltd. 2010), To Love as Aswang (Philippine American Writers and Artists Inc. 2015), Invocation to Daughters (City Lights Publishing 2017), Letters to a Young Brown Girl (BOA Editions Ltd. 2020) and Wanna Peek Into My Notebook?: Notes on Pinay Liminality (Paloma Press 2022).

Beverly Parayno is from East San José. Her debut short story collection WILDFLOWERS (PAWAPress) was shortlisted for the 43rd Annual Northern California Book Awards, winner of a 2024 IPPY Bronze Medal and a 2024 National Indie Excellence Award and a finalist for the 2023 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award and the 2024 American Fiction Awards. She serves on the board of Philippine American Writers and Artists and the Munster Literature Centre in Cork, Ireland. She lives in Cameron Park.

Karen Llagas’s chapbook, All Of Us Are Cleaved, was published by Nomadic Press in 2023. Her first collection of poetry, Archipelago Dust, was published by Meritage Press in 2010. A recipient of the 2022 RHINO Founder’s Prize, Filamore Tabios Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize, an Elizabeth George Award and a Hedgebrook residency, her poems, translations & prose have also appeared in various journals and anthologies. She has an MFA from Warren Wilson College and teaches at UC Berkeley. Karen divides her time between SF and LA and is the Festival Director for the 7th Annual Filbookfest.

Krysada Phounsiri is a Lao American award-winning poet, professional dancer, optical engineer and photographer. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a Physics & Astrophysics double major. He minored in Creative Writing with a focus on poetry. His poetry has been featured in various publications like the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education, SEARAC 40 & Forward and San Diego Poetry Together anthology. He has authored two poetry books: Dance Among Elephants, released in April 2015, which takes readers on a profound journey of identity, family, homeland, love and dance, and Every Passing Minute, released in November 2020, continuing the exploration of themes from his first book.

DVAN empowers and promotes diasporic Vietnamese and Southeast Asian literary voices through nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, fostering understanding, dialogue, and championing diverse stories for future generations, acknowledging the complexities and distinctions within the transnational diaspora community. They are refugees, immigrants, survivors and descendants, and their stories must be heard.

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