A flyer for the first (re)collection open mic. Photo courtesy of the author.

The first event I ever co-curated was at the Asian American Writer’s Workshop (AAWW) when it was at 16 West 32 Street in Koreatown, Manhattan. It was the Fall of 2000, and I worked at their bookstore. The summer before, we slugged their books, shelves and couches from their first space at 37 St. Mark's Place to the new one, dreaming of “bigger” events. Even then, it signified a kind of transition from “downtown” to “midtown,” from a basement loft that fit 50 people max to a 10th floor loft that fit 100 people max. We could promote events and connect with people on Asian Avenue, a social networking site during the dial-up internet days. Staff members used donated Apple laptops in fluorescent green, red and purple instead of gargantuas desktop computers, and all this felt new.   

The event we organized was called (re)collection, a monthly open mic series that existed at AAWW from 2000-2003. It was organized by a dozen of us—poets and other creatives—and the steady stewardship of the events coordinator Anantha Sudhakar. That first year was the most memorable. Any great event of poetry and storytelling is sweaty, and that first year was the sweatiest. The events were crowded, bustling, and warm. Every seat was taken, and the rest of the crowd sat on the ground surrounding the reader or huddled in the back through the hallways. Many readers shed tears with their confessional words, and so did audience members. Some called it therapy. There was also plenty of raucous laughter. It felt like we tapped into something people needed. 

A (re)collection crowd from Fall 2000.

Location: 16 West 32nd St, K-Town, Manhattan.

 Photo courtesy of Nancy Yap.

It can be hard to recall events from over two decades ago, but I remember Alexander Chee reading from his breathtaking first novel Edinburgh, DJ Kuttin Kandi with a scorching set of poetry condemning the invasions on Iraq and Afghanistan. Singer Florence Yoo featured with playwright Julia Cho, who later co-created the Pixar movie Turning Red. Beau Sia and Ishle Yi Park gave feature sets before they started touring internationally with Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. The rapper Key-Kool of the Los Angeles-based Visionaries recited an acapella version of “(Re)concentrated,” which may have been the only hip-hop song at the time dedicated to incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II. Members of theater troupe Peeling the Banana and hip-hop group Kontrast were also regulars. 

I’ve always loved the democratic nature of open mics and slams at bookstores and cafes. It feels like home. Even before the (re)collection open mics at AAWW, many of us frequented regular open mics at Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Bar 13, CBGBs and elsewhere throughout the city. We were inspired by them, and wanted to create a space that was more AAPI-centric without directly stating so. 

(re)collection was also inspired by the Basement Workshop (1970-1986), the first Asian American arts organization on the East Coast. The director for most of Basement Workshop’s existence was the poet Fay Chiang, who I met through my time as an undergrad at NYU’s A/P/A Studies. Under the leadership of historian Jack Tchen, A/P/A Studies was teeming with Basement Workshop alumni as well as other artists and scholars aligned with their values. Jessica Hagedorn, David Henry Hwang, Corky Lee, and Tomie Arai all held residencies. Fay became a kind of a mentor to me, always encouraging and always bridging newer voices with older ones. 

 Fay Chiang and the author at an event commemorating her artist residency, Fall 2003.

Location: Tisch School of the Arts, 721 Broadway, Manhattan.

 Photo courtesy of APA Studies at NYU.

The novelist Ed Lin, who was a frequent reader at (re)collection, continued more open mic events at AAWW later on with writers such as Jen Kwok, Kay Ulanday Barrett and Muriel Leung. A pillar in the community, Ed still hosts open mics at Yu & Me and Worlds Borough Bookstore. 

Ed Lin reading at (re)collection, Fall 2000. 

Location: 16 West 32nd St, K-Town, Manhattan.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Yap.

After the (re)collection years, there were also AAPI-run open mics at the Silk Road Cafe in Chinatown and through the Guerilla Words series at Nightingales. While officially not an open mic, I also co-curated the Sulu Series, an AAPI performance series at the Bowery Poetry Club from 2005-2010 with an “open door” policy where if you wanted to feature, you got it. New York, being the city that it still is, always had talented people coming through. Ali Wong performed there, when she was still hustling doing seven other open mics that same night, and she was always stellar. That was a certain golden era of Asian American comedians. They all swung through the Sulu stage: Aparna Nancherla, Hari Kondabolu, Sheng Wang, Kumail Nanjiani—but so did rappers Dumbfounded and Prometheus Brown, poets Bao Phi and Yellow Rage, singer Cynthia Lin, members of arts collective Mango Tribe, hip-hop group Deep Foundation, theater artist Kristina Wong, and many more. 

Ali Wong at Sulu Series, 2009.

Location: Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery St, Manhattan. 

Photo courtesy of Derek Srisaranard.

You never know who might read. Ed once told me he remembers when Ocean Vuong read at his open mics at AAWW—“Even then, he was fully formed.” 

As a teacher of creative writing, I always aspire to create that feeling of an open mic, where anything feels possible when you give a new voice a turn. And for me, it all started with (re)collection at 16 West 32nd Street.

Bibliography

Chiang, Fay and APA Studies. “Fay Chiang.” APA at NYU (2017): https://apa.nyu.edu/affiliate/fay-chiang-2003-4/   

Dacuyan, Kyle, Hagedorn, Jessica, and Hahn, Kimiko. “Threads of Compulsion, From Basement Workshop to AAWW.” The Margins at Asian American Writers’ Workshop (2021): 

https://aaww.org/from-basement-workshop-to-aaww/ 

ong, christina. “The Basement Workshop and Asian American Movement Connective Threads.” The Basement Workshop Digital Exhibit. (2022):

https://thebasementworkshop.reclaim.hosting/explore-the-basement-workshop-by-locations/ 

San Francisco State University. “In Memory of Dr. Anantha Sudhakar.” (2021): https://sfsu.academicworks.com/donors/anantha-sudhakar  

Wong, Jeannie. “Surrounded by Books: Remembering the AAWW offices in the East Village and Koreatown.” The Margins at Asian American Writers’ Workshop (2021):  https://aaww.org/aaww-space-jeannie-wong/