About The Asian American Writers' Workshop

Founded in 1991, The Asian American Writers’ Workshop is the preeminent national nonprofit arts organization devoted to great writing by Asian Americans--many of whom are cut off from the arts. Not only do nearly all Asian Americans live in non-English-speaking immigrant households, the few Asian Americans who do become writers find themselves faced with a publishing industry that rarely publishes work by writers of color. Although nearly 1 in 20 Americans are of Asian descent--less than .01% of novels published each year are written by Asian Americans. This is why we want all Asian Americans to feel their stories matter. We want to nurture all Asian American writers, whether they’re Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, whose first book party we hosted, or a struggling young writer just graduating from school. We want every American, no matter the color of their skin, to understand how Asian America forms a central chapter of the American story. As National Book Foundation Executive Director Harold Augenbraum writes, we help many Asian Americans satiate “a hunger they never knew they had: a hunger for literature, cultural recognition, and a connection to their heritage.”

We are one of the most active Asian American groups and literary groups in New York--and we’re growing. In 2008, our more-than-weekly reading series consisted of 51 events featuring 124 writers--30% more writers than we did in 2006 and 2007 combined. These writers came from nearly twenty ethnicities, including those not usually thought of as Asian American (e.g., Iranian, Hmong, Sri Lankan Americans). The authors we have hosted in the past include some of the finest writers in America: Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, Booker Prize winner Michael Ondaatje, National Book Award winner Maxine Hong Kingston, and Nobel Prize nominee Bei Dao. Described by our survey participants as “quirky” and “thoughtful,” our literary programming is interactive, community-based, and innovative. An authority on Asian American literature, we sponsor the Asian American Literary Awards, have published award-winning journals and anthologies, and run the only Asian American reading room. The United Asian American Organizations recently named us one of the top five Asian American groups in the country.

For more information and to join our mailing list visit www.aaww.org.

STAFF

Ken Chen, Executive Director;
Amita Manghnani, Program Director;
Lan Phan, Development Director;
Margaret Chen, Financial Consultant;
Tara Sarath, Office Administrator ;
Nancy Bulalacao, Festival Coordinator;
Neil Donnelly with Philip DiBello, Program Designers;
Sanjay Cherubla, Tech Consultant;
Yuan Li, Page Turner Web Master and Program Editor;
Michelle Chen, WordStrike Coordinator;
Andy Hsiao, WordStrike Editor;

Fall Interns:
Melissa Alday,
Anton Dela-Cruz,
Livia Huang,
Aaron Shin,
and Brittany Trotter

 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jin Auh
Morteza Baharloo
Angela Chitkara
Nusrat Durrani
David Eng
V.V. Ganeshananthan
Mariko Gordon
Hua Hsu
Sarita James
Kirby Kim
Amitava Kumar
Jennifer 8. Lee
Andrea Louie
Tan Lin
Leslie Norton
Monica Youn

 

HONORARY ADVISERS

Harold Augenbraum
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Jessica Hagedorn
Kimiko Hahn
Andrew Hsiao
Stewart Ikeda
Gish Jen
Elaine Kim
Jhumpa Lahiri
Russell Leong
David Mura
Robert Polito
Arthur Sze
Shawn Wong