Category: ricepaper magazine

LiterASIAN Vancouver 2025

asian, publishing, ricepaper magazine

This month I’ll be going to Vancouver as part of the LiterASIAN festival. The cost of hotel and travel has gone up, but I guess everyone is starting to travel these days post COVID.

Exactly 10 years ago I was invited by founder Jim Wong-Chu to participate and now 10 years later I find myself returning. It’s bittersweet because Jim isn’t with us anymore, but he did plant a seed in me to
volunteer with Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop which I continue doing to this day!

For those interested in learning more about the past (1923 Chinese Exclusion Act with historian Catherine Clement) to more current stories (Rachel Phan’s Restaurant Kid, Eddy Boudel Tan’s The Tiger and the
Cosmonaut, my Ghost Bride of Gum San), this is a good place to meet authors, listen to readings and
quiz them about their writing journeys!

Details about this event here: https://literasian.com/

Two Books Coming out in March 2025!

Anthologies, Books, Canada Anthology, publishing, ricepaper magazine, shortstories, Uncategorized, Writing

Over the last year I’ve been working with Dark Winter Press and Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop on two different books. Finally they are going to be ready for publication next month!

Dark Winter Press will be publishing a book I wrote for a speculative fiction novel contest (it lost) about yokai demon hunting in San Francisco (Gum San) in 1869 after the completion of the railroad. I did a lot of research about the living conditions of Chinese people in Gum San’s Chinatown and was a bit shocked to discover that the ratio of men to women was 20 to 1. Chinese people were thought of as temporary laborers and everything possible was done to decrease the quality of life, from not letting women into the country easily to banning Asian fishing nets to extra taxes. Since the book title has to do with weddings, I’ve dug out my Chinese wedding dress and accessories and will do a photo series with them on social media in the near future. Pre-order page for digital eBook: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DY84DF4K

For Asian Canadian Writers Workshop, Dark Helix Press is publishing the fourth Ricepaper Magazine anthology which is full of fiction and poetry by the Asian diaspora. We’ll be doing some events in in Toronto and Vancouver to celebrate its release and I was one of the many editors for this book. Pre-order page for digital eBook: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DY5CVFL6/

Once the print book pages are ready, I’ll make another post to share information on book preview information and where to buy!

Nastasha Alli answers “Why is research important in your “Exploring Filipino Kitchens” podcast?”

Artsy Raven, ArtsyRaven, food, fun, podcast, podcast, ricepaper magazine, Uncategorized, women, Writing, you tube

Nastasha Alli was born and raised in the Philippines and came to Canada in 2007. For her writing at the intersection of food and diaspora communities, she won a Food Sustainability Media Award from the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Her work has been featured on CBC Radio and her recipe published in a “top cookbook of 2018” by the San Francisco Chronicle.

She answers the question “Why is research important in your “Exploring Filipino Kitchens” podcast?” on the Artsy Raven podcast, Episode 12. This clip is an excerpt from the episode.

Nastasha’s website is https://www.nastasha.ca/  

The Artsy Raven podcast about writing & publishing episodes are on Spotify & Youtube: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcast/

Moni Brar reads “Fault Lines” and tells us what inspired it on Artsy Raven Eps 11

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Moni Brar’s works have appeared in PRISM international, Hart House Review, Existere, The Maynard, untethered, Hobart, and other publications. She is a member of the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society, The League of Canadian Poets, and the editorial board of New Forum Magazine.

She reads “Fault Lines” and tells us what inspired it on the Artsy Raven podcast, Episode 11. This clip is an excerpt from the episode.

Moni can be found on Instagram @monibrar.

The Artsy Raven podcast about writing & publishing episodes are on Spotify & Youtube: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcast/

Kathy Quyen Pham answers “Why did you want to pursue a MFA?” on Artsy Raven Eps 10

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Kathy Quyen Pham is a Vietnamese Canadian writer currently based in Saigon. She has published fiction in Ricepaper, Cagibi, and NōD Magazine.

She answers the question “Why did you want to pursue a MFA?” on the Artsy Raven podcast, Episode 10. This clip is an excerpt from the episode.

Kathy’s website is https://kathypham.ca.

On Twitter she is @kqphm and on Instagram she is @kqphm

The Artsy Raven podcast about writing & publishing episodes are on Spotify & Youtube: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcast/

Kevin Wong answers “What inspired you to write stories about Hong Kong?” on Artsy Raven Eps 9

Anthologies, Artsy Raven, ArtsyRaven, asian, editing, podcast, ricepaper magazine, self-publishing, Uncategorized, Writing, you tube

Kevin Wong was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia: the same hometown as Sidney Crosby and Sarah McLachlan. He has always loved writing and creating art, and even as a child he was constantly drawing, painting, writing stories, and telling tales to his friends and family.

He answers the question “What inspired you to write stories about Hong Kong?” on the Artsy Raven podcast, Episode 9. This clip is an excerpt from the episode.

The Artsy Raven podcast about writing & publishing episodes are on Spotify & Youtube: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcast/

Bianca Weeko Martin answers “What makes you decide to make a piece of artwork versus writing?”

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Bianca Weeko Martin is a designer with Filipino, Indonesian, and Chinese ancestry. She was educated at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Canada, where she has been based since immigrating with her family from Jakarta in 2000.

She answers the question “What makes you decide to make a piece of artwork versus writing?” on the Artsy Raven podcast, Episode 8. This clip is an excerpt from the episode.

Her latest publication is Belief: http://www.darkhelixpress.com/acww/belief/

The Artsy Raven podcast about writing & publishing episodes are on Spotify & Youtube: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcast/

#HappyPrideMonth, talking to #comedian #JoshWilliams and #Youtube link for #Belief #booklaunch! #LGBTQ #ArtsyRaven #onemanpodcast #writing #publishing

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June is Pride Month and on the Artsy Raven podcast we are releasing episodes featuring a LGBTQ author every Sunday. More details available in our June newsletter (click here), including which episode to listen to which has a submission call for short stories. It was great to talk to these authors who all generously shared their challenges and struggles, but despite all this, they all remain optimistic and achieved their goals!

At the end of May we had a book launch for Belief, an anthology featuring Asian authors. I was happy that my 3-tiered cake didn’t fall down and it was a lot of fun baking, even though I’ve lost my sense of smell and taste after the COVID vaccine. Since I take care of my 105-year-old grandma, I get tested for COVID every week and it’s been negative. Anyhow, we recorded the Belief event which can be watched on Youtube here. More details about the book here.

Comedian Josh Williams and I talked a little bit about Belief and other things in life on his One Man Podcast, click here. His podcast is a casual conversation and somehow I impressed him with my talk about the radioactive sandwiches I fed people when I worked in Nuclear Medicine!

I’ve been trying to do more writing by doing writing sprints with an indie author group every Sunday night, but it’s been slow. My brain is still split on weekdays because of virtual school and I can’t write one sentence without the kraken (my child) demanding something. I’m not sure at what age human children become more useful!

For more detailed Artsy Raven podcast episode summaries, they are posted on Patreon and Ko-fi every Sunday.

Stay safe until next time!