Write with me at WCC! Register today

New Winter 2026 course schedule at Washtenaw Community College is out! Come write with me!

Register today. Washtenaw county residents over 65yo are free.

Writing with Style
3 Saturdays, Jan. 17, 24, 31, 2026, 10am-12pm EST, Washtenaw Community College, online

Finding the Writer Within Continuing Writers Workshop
10 Sundays, Jan 25-Mar 29, 2026, 12pm-2pm ET, Washtenaw Community College, online

Write Here, Write Now
6 Mondays, Feb 23-Mar 30, 2026, 6:30-8:30pm, ET, Washtenaw Community College, online

Writing about Home (new class)
3 Sats, Mar 7, 14, 21, 2026, 10am-12pm, ET, Washtenaw Community College, online

ABCs of Publishing
2 Sats, Apr 18, 25, 2026, 10am-12pm EDT, Washtenaw Community College, online

https://washtenaw.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassListing.ClassListingDisplay&int_category_id=3&int_sub_category_id=49&int_catalog_id=1

1990 Institute "How do stories shape how we face the new year?" Dec 2025

My final 1990 Institute newsletter -- Volume 5, Issue 12 -- Wow, we wrote 5 volumes of newsletters since 2021! Check out my annual year-end list of book recs published this year.

How do stories shape how we face the new year?

I recently helped MC a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Lao diaspora to honor the community’s history, achievements, and vision for the future. There was storytelling, photography, poetry, food, and even a fashion show of traditional and modern Lao-inspired designs. Community members told stories about what it means to be a refugee — to leave at a moment’s notice, to only bring what you can carry, to not know where you’re headed, or if you will ever be able to come home again. A Hmong American man who was recently released from ICE detention spoke about his experience. 

I know a lot of the facts around this history, but it was so powerful and so inspiring to hear these stories told from the heart. Stories connect us and shape how we face tomorrow. 

As we head into the new year, I would like to share some books published this year by Asian American authors, including some by friends of the 1990 Institute. 

https://1990institute.salsalabs.org/1990newsletter_vol5_issue12

READING: Fall of Freedom event at Cluster Museum Nov 21

I'll be reading a new poem "JingWei tian hai" at

Fall of Freedom: Surmountable, When United PERFORMANCE, Friday, November 21, 2025, 7:00 PM 8:15 PM, CLUSTER Museum, 307 North Main Street Ann Arbor, MI, 48104

CLUSTER Museum presents Surmountable, When United, an evening of dance in conversation with poetry, and in partnership with the nation-wide creative resistance protest Fall of Freedom.
The evening’s program includes Ann Arbor-based movement ensemble Dance Uprising presenting 3 separate pieces tackling the theme of choice in challenging times, alongside poets Zilka Joseph, Leigh Sugar, and Francis Kai-Hwa Wang.
This event has a sliding scale donation-based ticket fee, made at the door or ahead of time through Dance Uprising’s website. No one will be turned away at the door.
We encourage attendees to arrive early so you can participate in one of our earlier Fall of Freedom Events, including printmaking drop-ins. *Best for ages 10 years and older.
About Dance Uprising: Dance Uprising is the voice, the rebellion, the brain child for dancer/choreographer Amy Cadwallader. First and foremost, they seek to create a human connection with every dance encounter. And to create dance works that speak to the human condition, to our current societal influences, to equality and change.

https://clustermuseum.org/events/surmountable-when-united

EVENT: IS/LAND Angel Island - Until We Fill the Ocean

IS/LAND Asian American Pacific Islander Performance Collaborative

Sat., Nov. 15, 2-3pm EST, Detroit Public Library 

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/detroit-public-library-4535003353

EVENT AADL Writing to Save the World Fri Nov 14 5:30pm

Writing to Save the World, with Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

Friday November 14, 2025: 5:30pm to 7:30pm 

Ann Arbor District Library Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room

How do we use our writing to create real world change? How do we find our voices and get our message out? How do we use writing to touch, inspire, persuade, and provoke readers to action? Learn simple but powerful methods to get the ideas out of our heads and onto the page. Part writing, part activism, a lot of heart, this class aspires to use the written word to create the change you want to see in the world. Bring a notebook and a pen.

Big thanks to CultureSource and Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF) for the Washtenaw Artist Grant to help develop this writing workshop. 

And Thanks to AADL the best library there is!

https://aadl.org/node/646269

2025 A2 Community Bookfest at AADL Nov 9

2025 A2 Community Bookfest will be on Sunday, November 9 from 10AM - 5PM at the Downtown Library! 

Join us for a day celebrating books at the A2 Community Bookfest! Formerly the Kerrytown Bookfest, the A2 Community Bookfest is thrilled to return to downtown Ann Arbor for 2025!

Booksellers, publishers, authors, and more will be on the vendor floor from 10am-5pm and various activities for all ages, such as keynote author talks, hands-on crafts for kids and adults, storytimes, and discussion groups, will take place throughout the day. Additionally, the Fifth Avenue Press annual author reception will celebrate books published by the Library in the prior year.

The 2025 A2 Community Bookfest Headliner:

K-Ming Chang is the author of the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction finalist Bestiary, an inventive novel that pays homage to earlier Asian American brilliance while pushing up against—and innovating past—its boundaries. With a poetic voice full of energy, Chang speaks on paying homage to history, mythology, and family to reinvent the genre. Chang is also the author of Gods of Wants, Organ Meats, and Cecilia.

Wayne State Univ Press will be there and I'll be there for a little bit to sign books too!

https://aadl.org/bookfest

Event AADL Writing to Save the World

Writing to Save the World, with Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

Friday November 14, 2025: 5:30pm to 7:30pm 

Ann Arbor District Library Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room

How do we use our writing to create real world change? How do we find our voices and get our message out? How do we use writing to touch, inspire, persuade, and provoke readers to action? Learn simple but powerful methods to get the ideas out of our heads and onto the page. Part writing, part activism, a lot of heart, this class aspires to use the written word to create the change you want to see in the world. Bring a notebook and a pen.

Big thanks to CultureSource and Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF) for the Washtenaw Artist Grant to help develop this writing workshop. 

And Thanks to AADL the best library there is!

https://aadl.org/node/646269

1990 Institute newsletter, October 2025, Volume 5, Issue 10

1990 Institute newsletter

October 10, 2025, Volume 5, Issue 10

How can historical mooncakes inspire us in America today?

https://1990institute.salsalabs.org/1990newsletter_vol5_issue10?wvpId=3472bc42-b4b5-46d4-8347-f928d14e9f4f

Event How to Live the Time of Your Life: Author Reading at CLUSTER

How to Live the Time of Your Life: Author Reading

Thursday, October 9, 2025, 7:00 PM  8:30 PM

CLUSTER

307 North Main StreetAnn Arbor, MI, 48104United States (map)

How to Live the Time of Your Life is from a Zadie Smith quote who questions, within our fragile, short existences, how do we spend our time, what is our truth, what guides meaning in our lives?

This inaugural literary event features 9 writers whose pieces are inspired by the 20 Lessons from Timothy Snyder’s book, On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century. 

Authors include Mouna Ammar, Ashwini Bhasi, A.E., Zilka Joseph, Ryan McCarty, Ruth Mella, Molly Raynor, Ciatta Tucker, and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang. This event is guest-curated by writer Kyunghee Kim and Cam Finch, writer & founder of PoetTreeTown.

“The question is: How to live the time of your life - the intimate time of your life- alongside the time of history. Which do you devote yourself to? Which deserves your attention? Which is real?” - Zadie Smith

*Author Events are best for ages 14 year and up unless noted. Learn more about our gallery on our Contact page.

https://clustermuseum.org/events/howtolivethetimeofyourlife

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cluster-how-to-live-the-time-of-your-life-author-reading-tickets-1743989352099

Moderating: Taiwan Travelogue: Unearthing Stories of Identity, Cuisine, & Friendship

I'll be moderating a booktalk for Michigan Taiwanese American Organization (MITAI) as part of its Taiwan Literature Exhibition: Reading Taiwan at AADL

Taiwan Travelogue: Unearthing Stories of Identity, Cuisine, & Friendship

Sunday September 28, 2025: 2:00pm to 3:30pm 

Ann Arbor District Library, Downtown Library: 1st Floor Lobby

Join author Shuang-Zi Yang and translator Lin King—2024 National Book Award winners for Translated Literature—for a conversation on Taiwan Travelogue, set in 1938 colonial Taiwan. Moderated by Frances Kai-Hua Wang, Kaori Ohara, and Wan-Thai Hsu, the discussion explores histories, power dynamics, friendship, and Taiwanese cuisine. A small food tasting from the book will follow, along with a book signing. Don’t miss this immersive exploration of Taiwan’s past and present.

Taiwan Literature Exhibition: Reading Taiwan is on display on the 2nd Floor of the Downtown Library from September 22nd, 2025-January 9th, 2026.

This event is in partnership with the Michigan Taiwanese American Organization and the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York. It includes a signing with books for sale.

https://aadl.org/node/642431