MANOA online v. 3

WILD HEARTS contributor Andrew Lam

soniamun — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:47:38 +0000

Andrew Lam, whose story “At the Love Leather” appears in the winter 2010 issue of MANOA, has a new book, East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres (Heydey Books, 2010). Here is a description of the book from the publisher’s site:

From cuisine and martial arts to sex and self-esteem, East Eats West shines new light on the bridges and crossroads where two hemispheres meld into one worldwide “immigrant nation.” In this new nation, with its amalgamation of divergent ideas, tastes, and styles, today’s bold fusion becomes tomorrow’s classic. But while the space between East and West continues to shrink in this age of globalization, some cultural gaps remain.

In this collection of twenty-one personal essays, Andrew Lam, the award-winning author of Perfume Dreams, continues to explore the Vietnamese diaspora, this time concentrating not only on how the East and West have changed but how they are changing each other. Part memoir, part meditation, and part cultural anthropology, East Eats West is about thriving in the West with one foot still in the East. (Publisher’s description)

To read an excerpt from East Eats West, click here.

Andrew Lam has also contributed to the following issues of MANOA: winter 2004, summer 2002, winter 2000, winter 1994. To learn more about these issues, click here.

SONG OF THE SNOW LION

N Sawa — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:09:12 +0000

In (belated) honor of the 75th birthday of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, MANOA spotlights its issue SONG OF THE SNOW LION, featuring essays, fiction, and poetry by Tibetans living in Tibet and in exile abroad.

from the Editor’s Note:

at present, the Party’s control is tighter than ever, and it continues to launch campaigns to accelerate sinicization, villify the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile, and quash any hope for the restoration of Tibetan independence. Nevertheless, the people have refused to submit.

from Palden Gyal’s “Your Birth Day”:

The Red Guards tied your father’s hands behind his back and led him away by a string around his neck. At that moment, your father called out, “My son, my sweetheart!” and turned back to look at you with tears falling to the ground. It is impossible for you to know how your father felt at that time. Even I cannot describe it with pen and paper.

To learn about and purchase SONG OF THE SNOW LION:

the table of contents at the UH Press blog

buy the book on our ordering page

SONG OF THE SNOW LION is volume 12, issue 2 (winter 2000) in the MANOA series.

until we meet again, Alok Bhalla

N Sawa — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:57:03 +0000

Alok Bhalla, prominent Indian scholar and translator of ANDHA YUG, returned to India last weekend, and we here at MANOA will miss his erudition and cheerfulness. We could not have published ANDHA YUG without his support.

Alok Bhalla relaxing in the tropical afternoon heat — although, as he pointed out, it is much hotter in India during the summer.

Sai Bhatawadekar, professor of Hindi at UHM, and Caroline Sinavaiana, professor of English at UHM, with Alok Bhalla and Frank Stewart.

Sai Bhatawadekar, Caroline Sinavaiana, Alok Bhalla, and Ruth Hsu, professor of English at UHM.

VOICES FROM OKINAWA back by popular demand

N Sawa — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:32:22 +0000

Due to popular demand, Kumu Kahua Theatre will be restaging Jon Shirota’s topical play, VOICES FROM OKINAWA. The play focuses on Kama, an Okinawan American who goes to Okinawa to teach English and learn about his heritage, in the process learning about the complicated relationship between Okinawans and the American military bases still present on the island, decades after World War II.

Call (808) 536-4441 for tickets. The play opens July 15, 2010.

Bridging Cultures with Translation: The Mahabharata in Akbar’s India & on Modern Stage

N Sawa — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:52:21 +0000

Starting June 25, 2010, MANOA’s edition of Andha Yug: The Age of Darkness, written by Dharamvir Bharati and translated by Alok Bhalla, will be featured on the 4th floor Asia Collection, Hamilton Library, in an exhibit titled “Bridging Cultures with Translation: The Mahabharata in Akbar’s India & on Modern Stage.”

The exhibit displays books and images that show the variations of the Mahabharata, one of South Asia’s greatest epics, from the time of its translation into Persian in the 16th-century manuscript Razmnama (Book of War), to its re-imagining in the 20th-century Hindi play Andha Yug, published in English by MANOA in summer 2010.

Permission to use these illustrations is graciously provided by the Free Library of Philadelphia.

DRUNKEN BOAT’s “First Peoples, Plural”

N Sawa — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:28:19 +0000

DRUNKEN BOAT is currently accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, visual art, sound art, video art, and web art by indigenous people for its upcoming issue “First Peoples, Plural.” The deadline is October 15, 2010.

From their website:

Our goal is to present a wide scope of work from a wide scope of people. Works might explore native identity and aesthetic (and their evolution), family, spirituality, sexuality, passing, othering, exoticism, and the media.

ANDHA YUG theatrical reading

N Sawa — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:40:24 +0000

MANOA and Outreach College are cosponsoring a theatrical reading of Dharamvir Bharati’s ANDHA YUG: THE AGE OF DARKNESS. Translator Alok Bhalla will introduce the reading and also play a role. The reading will be followed by a discussion with Bhalla, MANOA editor Frank Stewart, and UHM English professor Feroza Jussawalla.
Sat., June 26, 2010 • 7:30 p.m. • Orvis Auditorium, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

Visit Outreach College’s article for more information. We hope to see you there!

Mr. Bhalla’s visit to Hawai’i is funded by the Diversity & Equity Initiative of the University of Hawai’i and by the Hawai’i Council for the Humanities with support from the “We the People” initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Borders of Sorrow: Violence, Translation, and the Politics of Religious Identities Across Cultures

N Sawa — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:00:15 +0000

Indian scholar and ANDHA YUG translator Alok Bhalla will be coming to Hawaii next month to discuss the role of translation and literature in the building of tolerance, reconciliation and peace in democratic societies. This is a “We the People” partnership between the Hawaii Council for the Humanities and the Manoa Foundation.

For more information, see the Federation of State Humanities website.

ANDHA YUG: THE AGE OF DARKNESS

N Sawa — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:26:10 +0000

MANOA is proud to announce the release of its latest issue, Dharamvir Bharati’s ANDHA YUG: THE AGE OF DARKNESS, one of the most significant plays of post-Independence India. Includes essays by translator Alok Bhalla and color illustrations from the 16th-century Razmnama (courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia). Available from MANOA, the University of Hawaii Press, and Project Muse.

A Call for Submissions

soniamun — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:36:13 +0000

The editors of Voices from Okinawa: Featuring Three Plays by Jon Shirota are beginning to assemble a new volume of Okinawan American writing. We request your help in publicizing this effort. If possible, please include the following notice in newsletters and other publications you are involved in.

Okinawan American writers of any age are invited to submit essays, poems, stories, or plays for a new volume of Okinawan American writing.

Please send work by May 1 to Frank Stewart, coeditor of Voices from Okinawa: Featuring Three Plays by Jon Shirota, at the following address:

MANOA Journal
Univ. of Hawaii-Manoa English Dept.
1733 Donaghho Road
Honolulu, HI 96822.

More information on VOICES is available at http://manoaokinawaissue.wordpress.com