UC Merced is a research institution and while groundbreaking work is done in its labs, that doesn’t mean the arts aren’t thriving, too.
For the past 10 years, the Write! Look! Listen! Series has been a vehicle for the university’s creative writing committee to encourage dialogue among creatives in the community. The series, sponsored by UC Merced’s Karen Merritt Writing Program, features local authors and provides them a place to read excerpts from their latest works to students and community members.
Andrea Mele, a continuing lecturer in the Merritt Writing Program, is chairing the committee this year. For the final installment of this year’s Write! Look! Listen! Series, the committee welcomes former UC Merced faculty member Yu-Han Chao to read a portion of her new book.
“I used to write the grants for readers and lay out refreshments — it’s such an honor to come back as a guest and reader this time,” said Chao, who was very active during her time on the committee.
Chao’s work, a collection of short stories titled “Sex and Taipei City” (Red Hen Press), has been years in the making. Chao was born in Taiwan and came to the United States to pursue her MFA in creative writing from Penn State University, where her thesis laid the foundation for this book.
Chao said the eye-catching title does not necessarily mean the stories are frivolous in nature, though. The collection offers a meditation on historical gender concerns and social injustices that affect denizens of Taipei, issues relevant today and across the world.
“Asian American literature is sometimes considered a small market, but I would argue we go through the same thing as everyone else and some of the gender stereotypes are often more pronounced in our culture,” said Chao.
Chao will be joined at the reading and book launch by friend and fellow writer, Pos Moua, a longtime Mercedian and leader in the local Hmong community.
Moua, a former English teacher with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from UC Davis, has served as a guest speaker to UC Merced students in the past. Moua will read from his second book, a collection of poems titled “Karst Mountains Will Bloom” (Blue Oak Press). Echoing a similar sentiment to Chao, Mao said that with his work he is “trying to give a sense of a literary voice to the Hmong people.”
The final Write! Look! Listen! Series event will be held from 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, April 19, at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center, 645 W. Main St. The event is free and open to the campus community and the public.
