AWP 2019 Offsite Events at De-Canon

March 16, 2019

We are thrilled to be hosting a number of terrific readings and events at De-Canon during the last week of March as part of the offsite event offerings for AWP 2019 (Association of Writers & Writing Programs), the largest North American conference for writers, writing programs, publishers, literary journals, and other related vendors. Over 14,000 writers are expected to visit Portland. And we are pleased to be the host for a number of great events — check them out below. If Facebook event links are available, we’ve linked them to the event titles.

Opening night of the De-Canon: A Visibility Project’s installation at Mile Post 5 in Portland.

De-Canon: A Celebration of Our Summer Events & A Look Forward

September 12, 2018

Our stay at Mile Post 5 has been a phenomenal experience. We have enjoyed having a large space to ourselves in which we’ve been able to not only exhibit the entire (and continually expanding) collection of books, but create a space where we’ve hosted readings, offered writing workshops, provided room for meetings, and enabled writers and artists of color to interact with each other, as well as the local community. Here’s an overview of what' we’ve done this summer.

photo credit : Allison Albino (who was visiting Portland for the Tinhouse summer workshops and stopped into De-Canon during our library hours)

De-Canon: A Visibility Project :: Summer 2018 @ Milepost 5

August 23, 2018

Summer is dwindling, the air is forest-fire smoke-hazy, the country's news cycle continues to exhaust and infuriate, and we here continue to believe in the (both) urgent and timeless need for books, art, reading, poetry, sharing, and for representation, and spaces that allow us respite - yet through continuing and thoughtful engagement - from/with the chaotic rest of the world. As I write this now, it is an August afternoon and I am sitting in the quiet of our library…

De-Canon Summer Residency Begins in May

April 14, 2018

Thanks to the generosity of Artists Milepost, we'll be in residency there from mid May to late July. Our opening event will be on May 12 at 6pm. Through these three months, the exhibit space will be open as a reading library, workspace, and venue for 4 days a week, with the occasional weekend events. We are expanding our archive and hope to have over 500 books available for visitors to read.

Inventory Updates: Recent Acquisitions

March 29, 2018

It's been a busy few weeks since AWP, but we wanted to share some of the books we brought back to add to De-Canon's growing archive, as well as books we recently received as donations.

photo credit: Camp Pendleton Archives

On Diaspora & Culture As Plurality: A Conversation With Viet Thanh Nguyen

March 21, 2018

This is a conversation interview conducted by Dao Strom, new editor of diaCRITICS, with Viet Thanh Nguyen, author, founder and publisher of diaCRITICS. Read more about what Nguyen has to say about diaspora, identity, and the unique "double burden" of making art as a "minority" person amid or between "majority" cultures.

...I’m of the belief that anything a Vietnamese artist does is inherently Vietnamese, but is also something else–that it can be and should be universal too. The challenge for us is that, as minorities, we always labor under the double burden of our specificity while attempting to prove our universality.

Some Notes for AWP 2018

March 6, 2018

Although De-Canon does not have a formal presence at AWP this year (that is, we didn't invest in a table), we will still have a presence of sorts. If you'd like to chat about the project, discuss past or future post topics for the blog, or want to learn more about how to have your own books included in the archive, stop by Table 1136 in the bookfair to find Neil who is representing Boxcar Poetry Review & Have Book Will Travel.

Owning the Means of Production, Part 2: POC-Edited Literary Journals

March 2, 2018

In this post, we survey the landscape of literary journals and provide a listing of currently operating journals which are helmed by POC editors. In total, we found __ literary journals whose mastheads list a writer of color as their editor-in-chief. Many also feature additional associate editors and staff members who are also POC. Some of these journals have been around since the 70s, but many are newer online journals, having come into existence in the last 5 years.

Owning the Means of Production, Part 1: POC-run Presses

February 22, 2018

If we hope to truly challenge or reimagine literary canon, it is not enough to consider the academic programs where young writers are taught and trained. We must look beyond the classroom and the professoriate, past endless reams of syllabi making and remaking what constitutes canon, and consider the practical matter of how these texts enter the field in the first place. In this post, we present a list of POC-helmed presses that are currently in operation.

Upcoming Poetry Book Prize Contests for POC Writers

February 7, 2018

Although the field of literary publishing is still primarily populated by white editors and publishers, there are some POC-owned and directed publishers and a number of new and well-established poetry book prizes that are judged by respected POC authors and which seek to champion work of writers from particular communities of color. If you're a POC poet with a book manuscript in need of a home, here's a list of upcoming contests you might want to try

POC Writers and Their Libraries

February 2, 2018

Over the past week and a half, we've been gathering images of POC writers and their libraries, as well as asking readers and writers of color to contribute their thoughts on the importance of building a personal library and how books by other POC writers have impacted their lives.

This post showcases responses from and glimpses into the libraries of Kazim Ali, Francisco Aragón, Jackson Bliss, Genève Chao, Shu-Ling Chua, Oliver de la Paz, M. Evelina Galang, Nathania Gilson, Jenna Le, Gemma Mahadeo, Meera (@ashmeera101), and Brian W. Parker.

Cover of The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, Vol. 3

Mimi Mondal's "A Brief History of South Asian Speculative Fiction, Part I"

January 31, 2018

On the radar -- Mimi Mondal explores the history of South Asian speculative fiction for science fiction and fantasy publishing blog, Tor.

Photograph of Octavia E. Butler seated by her bookcase, 1986.

A Library of One's Own

January 26, 2018

It's hard to explain exactly why having a personal library is so valuable -- and why it is particularly valuable to a person of color (writer or reader) to build a library for oneself. Here are a few ways of thinking about the value and purpose of a personal library -- and what it can enable in ourselves.

"Cutting Through Linearity": A Poetics Workshop with Hoa Nguyen

January 17, 2018

As we explore the topic of alternate routes of mentorship for writers, we will also offer here from time to time announcements and profiles of writer-mentors and their workshop offerings. Below is an announcement of a cyber-workshop being offered by award-winning poet Hoa Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam and currently resides in Canada.

POC Mentorship: Finding A Guide in the Wilderness

January 12, 2018

Over the past few months, we've explored POC mentorship at writing retreats and residencies, as well as studied and surveyed graduate creative writing programs in the US to determine where faculty of color are teaching and who teaches where (and what). All of this is helpful if you have the time and resources to invest in attending a program or retreat -- but sometimes that's not always possible. What then? Where do you find a mentor or coach?

~~Festival Art and design by Nishat Akhtar~~

De-canon Profile on :: INTERSECTFEST / Dec 8-10, 2017 :: A Q&A with Organizer Anna Vo

November 20, 2017

Here, De-Canon speaks to Anna Vo, musician, artist, zine-maker and publisher, and community organizer of IntersectFest, a festival from artists of color, which is in its third year of programming and takes place this year from December 8-10, at Ford Food & Drink and other locations around Portland.

1) In a few words, what is IntersectFest?

... It is an effort to center the narratives of people of color in Portland, and exhibit the work of artists of color from Portland and elsewhere. It is a refusal to submit to a narrative of whiteness being centered in Portland. ...

This image is from the artist Dinh Q. Lê's installation "Crossing the Farther Shore", which exhibited at Rice Gallery in Houston, TX in 2014.

De-Canonizing: "Vietnam" is A 7-Letter Word

November 10, 2017

A couple years ago, I went to see a reading at Powell’s bookstore on Hawthorne, in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. The reading was for the debut novel of an acquaintance and colleague I’d been in shared circles with for years through an organization called Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN). I also was a contributing writer to an arts and culture blog this novelist had founded.

At Powell’s that night, myself and the friend I’d invited were the only Asian people in attendance and there were not more than fifteen people total in the audience. The novelist, a university professor specializing in topics having to do with cinema and the Vietnam War, showed a montage of clips from famous American movies depicting the Vietnam era, then went on to critique the dehumanizing representation of Vietnamese (and other Asians) in such movies. The scene he read from his novel satirically depicted said dynamics. It was discomfiting, a little, to witness this presentation being given in front of a small crowd of mostly white people, but I was glad to see it being done. ...

phillip-b-williams-photo_rachel-eliza-griffiths-copy.jpg

Interview with Phillip B. Williams

October 20, 2017

Poet and editor Phillip B. Williams answers 4 questions from Shayla Lawson in this recent interview conducted for De-Canon. This is the first of a new series of guest interviews and posts we will be featuring on this blog.

August 2017 Exhibit: A Book List Snapshot

October 20, 2017

Our August exhibit at UNA Gallery featured 334 books by writers of color, 270 of which were purchased for the collection or donated by authors or presses, and the remaining 64 were loaned to the collection for the exhibit by Dao Strom, Neil Aitken, and another local writer. The following list is not intended to be final or exhaustive, but instead to offer a snapshot as to where we are -- and hopefully inspire others to try some new titles or revisit old favorites. We will continue to add to our archive and will provide updated lists in the new year.

THOUGHTS FROM A SUMMER EXHIBIT :: DE-CANON AT UNA / AUG 2017

September 20, 2017

August 2017 Closing Thoughts:

De-Canon: A Visibility Project launched in August 2017, with a month-long popup library exhibit at UNA Gallery in Portland, Oregon. We held events every week throughout the month and were joined by many other artists, writers, and artist groups in our community, all artists and writers of color. Our month of events and happenings showcased the multiplicity of voices, talents, views, and the sheer creativity and strength of the POC creative community in Portland. We are proud, grateful, humbled, delighted to have had the chance to create space for these interactions.

We owe thanks to many for contributions: Precipice Fund Grant/PICA; UNA Gallery (brilliantly run by Mercedes Orozco and Blair Crissman); book donations from Wave Books, Tin House, Octopus Books, Sundress Publications, YesYes Books; to Kevin Sampsell at Powell's for featuring a De-Canon display shelf in the bookstore; and to all the authors who donated their own books (Hoa Nguyen, Stephanie Adams-Santos, Cindy Williams Gutierrez, we will keep adding names here...); and to the contributors who helped us create our "de-canonizing" lists. We will be assembling those "de-canon" lists of contributors on the De-Canon website soon. We also appreciate the press and blog posts by the Mercury, Portland Monthly, Literary Arts, Oregon Arts Watch, and AWP Writer's Notebook.

Gratitude and recognition to all the presenters and participating artists and writers: Moved By Words; White Noise Project; Unlearning Podcast (Béalleka, Jeff Jaeckle); Physical Education (Taka Yamamoto, Lu Yim, Allie Hankins, keyon gaskin); and all the poets, asemic & visual artist-poets, and musicians: Samiya Bashir, Sam Roxas-Chua, Roland Dahwen Wu, Stacey Tran, Jonathan Raissi, Stephanie Adams-Santos, Christopher Rose, Jake Vermaas, Neil Aitken, Shayla Lawson, Trevino Brings Plenty, Anna Vo, Tron 444, Dao Strom, Amy Temple Harper, Claudia F. Savage, Skyler Reed, Consuelo Wise, Amy Lam, Alyssa Ogi, Rachel Springer.

We had such a powerhouse lineup of artists sharing their creative gifts in this space with us in August, and all of this is testament to the currents running through us all :: thank you thank you.

& a very special thanks to Kyle Macdonald, who designed and built all of our book boxes, all from recycled and reclaimed wood.

The poem "Thoughts On a Summer Exhibit" was made for De-Canon by Sam Roxas-Chua, inspired by our opening night event. He has kindly given us permission to re-print it here.

We will soon post a book index listing the books that were part of our August exhibit.