Program for Vietnamese American Authors Book Fair at San Jose City College on Thursday, Oct. 18

 

Community Arts and Lecture Series

 

Tech Center Auditorium               corner of Bascom and Moorpark    95128                   12:30 – 5 p.m.

 

12:30 p.m.  Introductions by Professor Merylee Shelton of San Jose City College.  Brief remarks by President Michael Burke and Cary Pham. Chair of the  Vietnamese Community Heritage and Cultural Advisory Committee to the SJCC-EVC District.

 

12:45 – 1:30 Andrew Lam is a syndicated writer and an editor with the Pacific News Service, a short story writer, and a regular commentator on National Public Radio. He co-founded New America Media, an association of over 2000 ethnic media in America.  Of interest to literature, journalism, current affairs, and multicultural studies. 

 

Mr. Lam’s writing is represented by two books at the event:  Perfume Dreams; Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora with a foreword by Richard Rodriguez (Heyday Books 2005 $14.95) and his own foreword to Under the Dragon; California’s New Culture by Lonny Shavelson and Fred Setterberg with photographs by Lonny Shavelson (Heyday Books 2007 $24.95). 

 

1:30 – 1:45  booksigning, break   

 

1:45 – 2:00   Books collection comments by Jean Libby, Internet Bookselling—Multicultural Perspectives.  Cary Pham introduces Prof. Nguyen Xuan Vinh of the community advisory committee.  Prof. Vinh notes Cung Oan Ngam Khuc, Complaints of an Odalisque by Nguyen Gia Thieu (1741-1798), illustrated by translation and commentary by Nguyen Ngoc Bích (VICANA 2006 $20.00).   Classical Vietnamese literature and art interest. 

 

2:00 – 2:45 Andrea Nguyen and Into the Vietnamese Kitchen introduced by Dawn Doan-Hang Chu, Asian American Women’s Alliance. (TenSpeed Press 2006, $35.00)  Ms. Nguyen’s book is the first English-language Vietnamese cookbook and is a finalist in the Asian Cooking Awards for 2007. 

Multicultural classes and community interest.  This presentation will taste good! 

 

2:45 - 3:30  booksigning, break to outdoor patio and café   RAFFLE BOOKS!

 

3:30 - 4:00  Celebration of the successful release of Prisoner of Conscience Nguyen Chi Thien in 1991 by Amnesty International USA, Terry McCaffrey, South Bay Coordinator and Walesa Kanarek, Field Coordinator for the Western Region.  Presentation of AI  continuing work on political imprisonment and government torture issues in all parts of the world.   Members of Group 19 in Palo Alto who welcomed the poet Nguyen Chi Thien when he emigrated to the U.S. in 1995 provide literature and petitions.     History and current affairs.

 

4:00 – 4:30   The life and work of Nguyen Chi Thien discussed by Andrew Lam.  Presentation of a video interview of the author (in English) telling his story of bringing his manuscript of poems composed in his memory during his first fifteen years of imprisonment to the British Embassy in Hanoi on July 16, 1979.  He was immediately arrested by Vietnamese police outside the gates, and brought to the Hoa Lo (“Hanoi Hilton”) prison, where he remained in solitary confinement while his work was published to great acclaim around the world.

 

Books representing his work are two bilingual poetry readers:  Life, Poetry, and Prison—Cuoc Song, Thi Van, va Tu Day with translation by Nguyen Thi (Allies for Freedom 2007, $15.00) and Blood Seeds Become Poetry—hat mau tho with translation by Nguyen Ngoc Bich (VICANA 1996, $15.00)  Communications, ESL, Vietnamese literature interest.

 

4:30 – 4:45   Reading of “Death-Row and the Maiden” scene from Hoa Lo/Hanoi Hilton Stories by Nguyen Chi Thien (Council on Southeast Asian Studies at Yale University 2007) by SJCC student Mai Trinh and author Andrew Lam.  Introduction of scene by Jean Libby, Internet Bookselling—Multicultural Perspectives and author of the Preface to the Yale publication.  Orders available.

 

4:45 – 5:00   Booksigning, closing.  All books cited above are available at the event. 

 
 
Sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor of the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District, Office of the President of San Jose City College, the San Jose City College Bookstore in cooperation with Internet Bookselling—Multicultural Perspectives, and the Vietnamese Community Heritage and Cultural Advisory Committee of San Jose, California.  Community Arts and Lecture Series chaired by Prof. Merylee Shelton.