{"id":2526,"date":"2023-09-23T20:33:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T20:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=2526"},"modified":"2023-09-28T11:54:51","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T18:54:51","slug":"de-la-paz-rekdal","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/event\/de-la-paz-rekdal\/","title":{"rendered":"Past & Present: Oliver de la Paz & Paisley Rekdal"},"content":{"rendered":"

In The Diaspora Sonnets, <\/em>Oliver de la Paz<\/a> uses the traditional sonnet to eloquently invoke the perseverance and myth of the Filipino diaspora in America. Paisley Rekda<\/a>l’s West: A Translation<\/em> is an unflinching hybrid collection of poems and essays that draws a powerful, necessary connection between the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882\u20131943). Moderated by Eric Tran<\/a> (Moth, Sugar, and Smoke<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"\"Oliver de la Paz’s family’s search for a sense of \u201chome\u201d and boundless feelings of deracination are evocatively explored by award-winning poet de la Paz in this formally inventive collection of sonnets. The Diaspora Sonnets\u00a0<\/em>eloquently invokes the perseverance and bold possibilities of de la Paz\u2019s displaced family as they strove for stability and belonging. The sonnet proves formally malleable as de la Paz breaks and rejoins its tradition throughout this collection, embarking on a broader conversation about what fits and how one adapts. A series of \u201cChain Migration\u201d poems viscerally punctuate the sonnets, giving witness to the labor and sacrifice of the immigrant experience, as do a series of hauntingly beautiful pantoums. Written with the deft touch of a virtuoso and the compassion of a loving son, The Diaspora Sonnets<\/em> powerfully captures the peculiar pangs of a diaspora \u201cthat has left and is forever leaving.\u201d Longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry.<\/p>\n

“There is no container more fitting to the conveyance of the nuanced sorrow of the permanent displacement from home, a word \u2018ensnared with thorns,\u2019 than the sonnet, certainly as it is practiced by Oliver de la Paz\u2026 The tenderness in these poems comes through in their \u2018gradations of memory where one \/\/ belonged,\u2019 and in their penetrating artfulness, itself a kind of love.”
\n\u2014Diane Seuss, author of frank: sonnets<\/i>
\n\"\"<\/h3>\n

In 2018, Utah Poet Laureate Paisley Rekdal was commissioned to write a poem commemorating the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad. The result is West: A Translation<\/i>\u2014an unflinching\u00a0hybrid collection of poems\u00a0and essays\u00a0that draws a powerful, necessary\u00a0connection between the railroad\u2019s completion and the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882\u20131943). Carved into the walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station, where Chinese migrants to the United States were detained, is a poem elegizing\u00a0a detainee who committed suicide.\u00a0As\u00a0West\u00a0<\/i>translates this anonymous Chinese elegy character by character, what\u2019s left is a haunting narrative distilled through the history and lens of transcontinental railroad workers, and a sweeping exploration of the railroad\u2019s cultural impact on America. Punctuated by historical images and told through multiple voices, languages, literary forms, and documents, West <\/i>explores what unites and divides America, and how our ideas about American history creep forward, even as the nation itself constantly threatens to spiral back. Longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough these poems, readers are asked to wrestle with the complex, layered histories of race, creed, class, and gender that are all too often overlooked in monolithic presentations of America\u2019s past and present. Elegiac and shot through with righteous anger, this essential collection demands a national reckoning.\u201d\u2014Publishers Weekly<\/em>, STARRED review<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>Portland Book Festival General Admission Passes are required for entry into all events.<\/strong>\u00a0Passes<\/a>\u00a0are $15 in advance and $25 day of Festival. Youth 17 & under get in FREE. All full-priced General Admission Passes include a $5 book fair voucher and entry into Portland Art Museum. Passes admit attendees to the Festival; individual events are first-come, first-served. More info\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oliver de la Paz eloquently invokes the perseverance and myth of the Filipino diaspora in America. Paisley Rekdal draws a powerful, necessary connection between the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Moderated by Eric Tran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[97],"tribe_events_cat":[67],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/2526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2526"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/2526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2530,"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/2526\/revisions\/2530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2526"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdxbookfest.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=2526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}