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Jan. 18th, 2005 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blue_lotus13Last night I attended a World poetry session at the Vancouver Public Library. I was actually manning (or womanning) a table for Ricepaper. The event was for Gung Haggis Fat Choy, so the poetry consisted of some poems by Scottish poet Dugald Christie, some Chinese poetry, and various poems done in Gaelic, Spanish and English.
The night was a great mix of culture and community. I was especially excited because I finally got to meet Fred Wah . Fred Wah is a Governor General award winning poet, who was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. He has spent a lot of time in Western Canada and now lives in Vancouver. I first discovered Fred's work years ago. I fell in love with his book "Music at the heart of thinking", which is poetry written in a style that pays homage to the Shaolin monks. For personal reasons, I also liked "Waiting for Saskatchewan." Like me, Fred is a quarter Chinese. His dad is half Chinese. Fred's grandpa was Chinese and he married an Irish woman and they had four children. At one point, they ended up sending two of the children to live in China with some relatives. One of these children was Fred's father.
Fred's writing and the topics he deal with greatly mirror my own family and some of my own experiences. He has written a lot about the experience of hybridity and hybrid poetics. His book, "Diamond Grill" is about his experiences growing up in a Chinese restaurant in a small town. My mother was extremely moved when she read this book and some scenes meant so much to her that they made her cry. So I was quite excited to meet with Fred, chat with him a little bit, and get him to autograph my mom's book. I plan to do an interview with him in the near future.
The night was a great mix of culture and community. I was especially excited because I finally got to meet Fred Wah . Fred Wah is a Governor General award winning poet, who was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. He has spent a lot of time in Western Canada and now lives in Vancouver. I first discovered Fred's work years ago. I fell in love with his book "Music at the heart of thinking", which is poetry written in a style that pays homage to the Shaolin monks. For personal reasons, I also liked "Waiting for Saskatchewan." Like me, Fred is a quarter Chinese. His dad is half Chinese. Fred's grandpa was Chinese and he married an Irish woman and they had four children. At one point, they ended up sending two of the children to live in China with some relatives. One of these children was Fred's father.
Fred's writing and the topics he deal with greatly mirror my own family and some of my own experiences. He has written a lot about the experience of hybridity and hybrid poetics. His book, "Diamond Grill" is about his experiences growing up in a Chinese restaurant in a small town. My mother was extremely moved when she read this book and some scenes meant so much to her that they made her cry. So I was quite excited to meet with Fred, chat with him a little bit, and get him to autograph my mom's book. I plan to do an interview with him in the near future.
