Seventeen Syllables

On the surface, "Seventeen Syllables" is the story of Rosie and her preoccupation with adolescent life. Between the lines, however, lurks the tragedy of her mother, who is trapped in a marriage of desperation.

This collection of 15 stories of Japanese-American life by Hisaye Yamamoto spans her 40-year career. Themes include: the cultural conflict between the first generation and their children; coping with prejudice; and the World War II internment of Japanese Americans.

haiku for lovers seventeen rich syllables bursting with romancePassionate and poignant, sensual and sentimental, this collection of love poetry in traditional Haiku style ranges from the light-hearted to the heart-breaking:shalomsensual and sweet passion, comfort, joined in one peace lies next to me

There are infinite stories about New York City, here are 41 in haiku form. In this love letter to his favorite city, lifelong New Yorker Peter C. Goldmark, Jr. has crafted a collection of haiku that are simultaneously nostalgic and perceptive. Touching on everything from the city's beloved landmarks to the rising costs of living and the famous lie, "There is a train directly behind this one," the poems in this book capture the true essence of this special place. Given everything New York has endured recently, this book offers a timely celebration of a unique and wonderful city and its people--written to honor the ties and realities that bind them together. Alongside the sweet, and often funny, haiku poems, wistful illustrations help bring New York to life. From the preface by the author: "And then as 2019 and 2020 unfolded, both our country and our city came under stress. The adventure in self-government in America began to wobble seriously. And then the COVID pandemic hit. All this made me realize how much I valued my city--its beauty, its diversity and variety, its remarkable people, its grit and resilience…and how fragile and unique it was." A portion of the proceeds supports Citizens NYC, a non-profit that helps neighborhoods work together to meet challenges like COVID.

In this age of rapid transition, Asian American studies and American studies in general are being reconfigured to reflect global migrations and the diverse populations of the United States. Asian American literature, in particular, has embodied the crisis of identity that is at the heart of larger academic and political debates surrounding diversity and the inclusion and exclusion of immigrant and refugee groups. These issues underlie the very principles on which literature, culture, and art are produced, preserved, taught, and critiqued. Words Matter is the first collection of interviews with 20th-century Asian American writers. The conversations that have been gathered here—interviews with twenty writers possessing unique backgrounds, perspectives, thematic concerns, and artistic priorities—effectively dispel any easy categorizations of people of Asian descent. These writers comment on their own work and speak frankly about aesthetics, politics, and the challenges they have encountered in pursuing a writing career. They address, among other issues, the expectations attached to the label "Asian American," the burden of representation shouldered by ethnic artists, and the different demands of "mainstream" and ethnic audiences.

This anthology covers writings by Asian Americans in all genres, from the early twentieth century to the present. Some sixty authors of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, South Asian, and Southeast Asian American origin are represented, with an equal split between male and female writers. The collection is divided into four sections-memoir, fiction, poetry, and drama-prefaced by an introductory essay from a well-known practitioner of that genre: Meena Alexander on memoir, Gary Pak on fiction, Eileen Tabios on poetry, and Roberta Uno on drama. The selections depict the complex realities and wide range of experiences of Asians in the United States. They illuminate the writers' creative responses to issues as diverse as resistance, aesthetics, biculturalism, sexuality, gender relations, racism, war, diaspora, and family.

"Even before wartime incarceration, Japanese Americans largely lived in separate cultural communities from their West Coast neighbors. The first-generation American children, the Nisei, were American citizens, spoke English, and were integrated in public schools, yet were also socially isolated in many ways from their peers and subject to racism. Their daughters especially found rapport in a flourishing network of ethnocultural youth organizations. Until now, these groups have remained hidden from the historical record, both because they were girls' groups and because evidence of them was considered largely ephemeral. In her second book, Valerie Matsumoto has recreated this hidden world of female friendship and comradery, tracing it from the Jazz age through internment to the postwar period. Matsumoto argues that these groups were more than just social outlets for Nisei teenage girls. Rather, she shows how they were critical networks during the wartime upheavals of Japanese Americans. Young Nisei women helped their families navigate internment and, more importantly, recreated communities when they returned to their homes in the immediate postwar period. This book will be a considerable contribution to our understanding of Japanese life in America, youth culture, ethnic history, urban history, and Western history. Matsumoto has interviewed and gained the trust of many (now old) women who were part of these girls' clubs"--

The Feminist Press celebrates its own coming of age with an anthology of distinguished women's writings.