Imaginary Affairs


Imaginary Affairs—Postcards from an Imagined Life by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a collection of prose poems and short short stories which wanders, dreamy and droll, across the landscapes of Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Kathmandu, Hawaii, and Asian America, wrestling with ache and desire, searching for the moment, but the moment is ever fragile.

 The book is hand-crafted with all sorts of old-fashioned book-making techniques by Laura Beyer of Wax Wing Press. The cover is hand pressed, the binding is hand sewn, the detailing is all antique fonts and dingbats. Especially beautiful in this digital age. 

 Purchase Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's book in person or from Blacklava.net today:
Blacklava - frances kai-hwa wang imaginary affairs chapbook 

and at Amazon (ebook for Kindle. Thanks to M!).
Imaginary Affairs: Postcards from an Imagined Life: Frances Kai-Hwa Wang: Amazon.com: Kindle Store

and at Barnes and Noble too! (ebook for Nook. More thanks to M!)
BARNES & NOBLE | Imaginary Affairs: Postcards from an Imagined Life by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang Media | NOOK Book (eBook)

But the best place to buy the book book in old fashioned paper paper is still from Ryan Suda at Blacklava.net. (Thanks Ryan!)
Blacklava - A store for all things Asian American

About the book:

“If I had a lost love—imaginary or real—I would want Frances to be mine. Her writing is heartfelt, eloquent, and nostalgic all at once. Frances possesses the ability to reach deep within the soul to speak on her heart's behalf—no matter how tormented, broken, and hopeful it may be. You will get what it is she is sharing.”
—Lac Su, author of I Love Yous Are for White People (HarperCollins, 2009)

“With echoes of Sei Shonagon and Li Bai, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang has created a contemporary pillow book of sensual longing, heartache, erotic impulse, and wry wit. Her book is to be savored like dark chocolate on a moonlit night.”  
—May-lee Chai, author of Hapa Girl and Dragon Chica

“Imaginary Affairs is a must-read for any woman who has experienced unfulfilled love and heartache. Through a series of vignettes and short poems, Frances Kai Hwa Wang finds beauty and hope in the most unlikely of places in her search for love and desire. Her words of yearning will speak to your heart.” 
—Dr. Kate Agathon, Curator, CommUNITY and ImaginAsian Identity and Experience in Contemporary Asian Pacific America Art Exhibit
  
NOW AVAILABLE for purchase from


Unofficial Book Launch August 7, 2012
   Omi Chowdhury and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

Kerrytown Concert House will be hosting an opening reception for photographer Jyoti Omi Chowdhury’s new exhibit, “Boots of Spanish Leather,” together with a reading by writer Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, on Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 5:00 to 7:00 pm. This exhibit will run through September 4. Kerrytown Concert House is located at 415 N. 4th Avenue, Ann Arbor, 48104. (734) 769-2999. www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com.

Jyoti Omi Chowdhury’s photography exhibits the equipoise between space and human identity. Most of his photographs were taken at various warzones and dictatorships, from Somalia to Burma. Instead of replicating and imitating the dire conditions that are part and parcel of human existence within these warzones, Chowdhury’s photography captures the levity, beauty, and randomness of people’s lives in these places. It is ultimately a homage to undying human spirit that refuses to wither even in the most desperate of circumstances.

He will be joined by writer Frances Kai-Hwa Wang who will read from her newest work, “Imaginary Affairs—postcards from an imagined life,” a collection of prose poems and short short stories which wanders across the landscapes of Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Kathmandu, Hawaii, and Asian America, and is described by author May-lee Chai as “a contemporary pillow book of sensual longing, heartache, erotic impulse, and wry wit…to be savored like dark chocolate on a moonlit night.”

Chowdhury and Wang will also discuss their latest collaboration which brings together their mutual fascination with landscape, light, space, identity, and human spirit, together creating dreamy and droll scenes that linger in the imagination, whether set in a Somali warzone or in a downtown Ann Arbor café.


Jyoti Omi Chowdhury was born in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, which in his opinion is infamous for torrential rain and back alley cricket. His formative years were spent daydreaming about women and soccer, under the cusp of a military dictatorship. He moved to the wilderness of the American prairies and western Canada for his university education, and eventually wound his way to Harvard. In between all this tiptoeing, rapidly developing wanderlust, he began to research and write on genocide, gender equity, war theory, and liberalism. During his PhD research and fieldwork, he found an outlet in photography. This will be Chowdhury’s third solo show, and his first in Michigan. His previous solo shows were in Boston and Berlin.

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American from California who now divides her time between Michigan and the Big Island of Hawaii. She is a contributor for New America Media's Ethnoblog, Chicagoistheworld.org, PacificCitizen.org, InCultureParent.com. She was the arts and culture editor of IMDiversity.com Asian American Village for many years, and she wrote a column called “Adventures in Multicultural Living” for AnnArbor.com and AnnArborChronicle.com. She teaches writing and Asian Pacific American History and the Law. She is a nationally popular speaker on Asian Pacific American, multicultural, social justice, and social media issues. Check out her blog at www.franceskaihwawang.blogspot.com.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/240046019435417/
Kerrytown Concert House Release:
http://www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com/index.php/events/event/omi_chowdhury_frances_kai-hwa_wang/

Media coverage:
AnnArborChronicle.com's events listing http://annarborchronicle.com/events-listing/ 

uh, ok, this is a first. we are being promoted by a parking lot. click on "local events" to see. (btw lots of parking nearby, and meters only run until 6pm.) http://www.parkingcarma.com/parking_lots/220-N-Ashley-St_Ann-Arbor/587e307e-9a36-df11-b486-0013723eb578/

more pr strangeness weather underground is helping to promote our event too?!! radical. Tuesday evening is projected to be 82 degrees, partly cloudy, 10% chance of rain. lol. What are you wearing? :)http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=48104

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