FEATURE EVENTS
Sunday, April 27 | 1 - 3 PM | Downtown Library: 1st Floor Lobby
Celebration of AAPI Heritage Month and Taiwanese American Heritage Week
Join the Michigan Taiwanese American Organization (MITAI) to get ready for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Taiwanese American Heritage Week in May! Festivities will include a Lion Dance, take-home paper snake crafts, and a lecture about the 12 Lunar Zodiac animals.
This event is in partnership with the Michigan Taiwanese American Organization.
Thursday, May 1 | 6 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
KYLYN Festival | Giant Robot Magazine: 30 Years of Asian Pop Culture and Beyond
Giant Robot was a bimonthly magazine that created an appetite for Asian and Asian American pop culture, exploring Sawtelle Boulevard as a Japanese American enclave. Founded in 1994 and driven by Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, it resulted in a legacy of Asian American artists that achieved worldwide recognition such as David Choe and James Jean. Following the film, there will be a Q&A with Giant Robot founders Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong.
Friday, May 2 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
KYLYN Festival | Spinning The Thread of Life: The Documentary Shorts of Toko Shiiki
This screening of Toko Shiiki's short films includes “in the wake of”, “A Thousand Pebbles on the Ground”, “Over The Sky” (excerpt), “Spinning the Thread of Life”, and the world premiere of “Reunion”. The screening is followed by a Q+A with Shiki and Yen Azzaro, subject of “Reunion.”
Wednesday, May 7 | 6 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: 4th Floor Meeting Room
KYLYN Festival | Make Tomorrow Today
Join us for a panel discussion exploring the socio-cultural issues affecting AAPI populations today and in the near future. In this current moment of a hyper-accelerated news cycle, it’s key to reflect on the core topics that directly impact the daily lives of AAPI populations. What are some possible solutions to these issues, and how can we encourage greater awareness and support for addressing them effectively? What strategies can we quickly implement to build a better world for future generations?
Featured panelists include: Kristine Patnugot of Rising Voices, Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe of The Tetra, and Rubini Naidu of Empact. Moderated by Lily Chen of the Detroit Historical Society.
Thursday, May 8 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
KYLYN Festival | 1893 Cyclone Damage to the Chinese Laundry, with Linette Lao
Linette Lao will present her process in creating a zine about the Ypsilanti Chinese Laundry that was destroyed by a cyclone in the late 19th Century. Through a hands on workshop, she will showcase why creating a zine was the best method to tell this forgotten story and demonstrate how attendees can begin creating their own zines.
Wednesday, May 14 | 6 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Film Screening | Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story
For 50 years, Chinese American photographer Corky Lee documented the celebrations, struggles, and daily lives of Asian American Pacific Islanders with epic focus. Determined to push mainstream media to include AAPI culture in the visual record of American history, Lee produced an astonishing archive of nearly a million compelling photographs. His work takes on new urgency with the alarming rise in anti-Asian attacks during the Covid pandemic. Jennifer Takaki’s intimate portrait reveals the triumphs and tragedies of the man behind the lens.
Friday, May 16 | 6 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
KYLYN Festival | Screening with Live Score: Goketsu Jiraiya (Jiraiya the Hero) (1921)
Enjoy the stellar trio of Kioto Aoki (taiko drums), Haruhi Kobayashi (voice and electronics), and Mai Sugimoto (saxophone) as they perform an improvised score for the classic Japanese silent film Gouketsu Jiraiya (Jiraiya the Hero).
Following the screening, Aoki, Kobayashi, and Sugimoto will be joined by harpist Anjelic and Detroit Kresge Art Fellow saxophonist Marcus Elliot for an improvised group set.
Friday, May 16 | 7 - 9 PM | Meyers Auditorium, Huron High School (2727 Fuller Rd)
Dance Performance | Amazing Taiwan
This program, featuring dancers from Taiwan's acclaimed National Taiwan University of Sport, highlights Taiwan’s rich and dynamic cultural diversity. It features innovative choreography techniques that blend dance, singing, music theatrical and other art forms to showcase Taiwan’s contemporary customs and conditions, ethnic group cultures and art formation culture. This re-imagines traditional cultural diversity with a fresh perspective. The performances will be in both Mandarin and English in an interactive format to enhance audience connection. Doors open at 7pm, performance begins at 7:30pm.
This event is in partnership with the Michigan Taiwanese American Organization
Thursday, May 22 | 6:30 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: 4th Floor Meeting Room
Author Event | Satsuki Ina: The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Memoir of Love, Imprisonment, and Protest
In 1942 newlyweds Itaru and Shizuko Ina were settling into married life when the United States government upended their world. They were forcibly removed from their home and incarcerated in wartime American concentration camps solely on account of their Japanese ancestry. When the Inas, under duress, renounced their American citizenship, the War Department branded them enemy aliens and scattered their family across the U.S. interior. Born to Itaru and Shizuko during their imprisonment, psychotherapist and activist Satsuki Ina weaves their story together in this moving mosaic. Through diary entries, photographs, clandestine letters, and heart-wrenching haiku, she reveals how this intrepid young couple navigated life, love, loss, and loyalty tests in the welter of World War II-era hysteria.
Friday, May 23 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
KYLYN Festival | Writing for Our Lives, with Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
Join journalist, poet, essayist, and educator Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in an empowering writing workshop.
“We write to find our voices, to discover our meaning, and to fight for our message - to write for our lives! With short timed writing exercises, we will write and share our stories, discuss ways our stories and struggles may have been discounted by others, and lift up our stories and perspectives to make our mark on today, this moment.” - Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
Thursday, May 29 | 6 - 7:30 PM | Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Author Event | Michelle Yang: Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian with Bipolar Found Love
Michelle Yang is an author, activist, and research participant in the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Program. Her memoir, Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian with Bipolar Found Love is being released in Spring 2025. The Prechter Program helps celebrate the launch of Michelle’s memoir by hosting a book reading accompanied by a discussion on healing through art.
THE UNERASED BOOK CLUB
The Unerased Book Club is a project of Rising Voices of Asian American Families, centered around growing connections within Michigan's Asian American community by exclusively reading works from Asian American authors. New titles are selected on the first of each month and discussed in the book club's virtual meetings. You can watch book discussions with the Unerased Book on our YouTube channel.
MORE WAYS TO EXPLORE ASIAN AMERICAN & PACIFIC ISLAND HERITAGE MONTH
Exiled to Motown: The History of Detroit's Japanese American Community
An interview with Dr. Mika Kennedy and Celeste Shimoura Goedert, co-curators of the exhibit Exiled to Motown: Japanese Americans in Detroit, for a vibrant discussion on the origins of the exhibit, the history of the Japanese American community in Metro Detroit, and the connections we can make within our current socio-political climate.
鬼地方—自傳式書寫與虛實交錯的故事拼貼
Author Event | Ghost Town: Exploring the Liaison Between Fiction and Autobiography
本場講座將由作家陳思宏介紹其獲臺灣文學金典獎年度百萬大獎、金鼎獎文學圖書獎，英文版並於美國獲熱烈好評的小說《鬼地方(Ghost Town)》，帶領觀眾思考「什麼是『鬼』？」、「什麼是所謂的『鬼地方』？」，以旅居德國柏林多年的觀察，與讀者分享東西方文化中對「鬼」的不同觀點和想像，也將分享本書的創作背景、靈感來源與心得。
陳思宏為旅居德國的臺灣作家，1976年出生於彰化縣永靖鄉，在陳家排行第九。輔仁大學英文系、臺灣大學戲劇所畢業，曾任記者、口譯及演員，著作曾獲林榮三文學獎短篇小說首獎、九歌文學獎年度小說獎等多項文學大獎。以小說《鬼地方》獲臺灣文學金典獎年度百萬大獎、金鼎獎並售出多國版權，近期則再以《樓上的好人》獲2022年臺灣文學金典獎。出版作品有散文《叛逆柏林》、《柏林繼續叛逆》、《第九個身體》，小說《佛羅里達變形記》、《指甲長花的世代》、《營火鬼道》、《態度》、《去過敏的三種方法》等。
陳思宏首部發行英文版的小說《鬼地方》受英美文學出版界關注，陳思宏除於2022年10月至紐約、華府進行共7場巡迴講座外，也將受邀參與於5月10日至13日舉辦的2023年美國筆會世界之聲文藝節(PEN World Voices Festival)。
In this author talk, Kevin Chen introduces his well-received novel Ghost Town by discussing the definition of “Ghost,” “Ghost Town” and their meanings in different cultural contexts with the audience. Kevin also leads the audience to explore the places he has visited, his life experiences in Taiwan and Europe, and other elements that inspire the story.
Mandarin: https://aadl.org/node/613615
English: https://aadl.org/node/613614
KYLYN Festival Concert | Here/Now
Join us for a concert celebrating the art of collaborative electro-acoustic improvisatory music featuring a remarkable line-up of APIA musicians across the Midwest. Performers include Kioto Aoki, Naomi Columna, Haruhi Kobayashi, Kenji Lee, Chien-An Yuan, and Julie Zhu.
KYLYN Festival Concert | To Heal
A safe, restorative, and inclusive afternoon concert of music and song, poetry and prose readings, and ambient electronic soundscapes. ‘To Heal’ aims to create a safe, restorative, and inclusive experience for attendees of all backgrounds in a celebration of healing, intersectional solidarity, and unity. Together, these elements highlight the shared humanity that binds us all, fostering a spirit of empathy and compassion.
Lessons for the Future, Lessons From the Past with Japanese Internment Camp Survivor Mary Kamidoi
Japanese American internment camp survivor Mary Kamidoi recounts growing up in an internment camp and the anti-Asian discrimination she experienced through the decades. Mary Kamidoi used to work for the Ford Motor Company and was the Treasurer for the Japanese American Citizens League in Detroit. Today, she is an active speaker and storyteller, drawing parallels from her life experiences with the current situation of a rise in Anti-Asian hate and xenophobia, and inhumane treatment of refugees and migrants on our southern border.
Kizuna Tree Panel: Storytelling as an Act of Resistance
How do we use storytelling to create real-world change? How do we find our voices and get our message out? How does the sharing of stories help build community? How do we use storytelling to touch, inspire, persuade, and provoke readers to action? This panel features author and interdisciplinary artist Frances Kai-Hwa Wang of PBS News Hour, documentary producer Zosette Guir of Detroit Public Television, Jasmine Rivera, Executive Director of Rising Voices, and interdisciplinary artist Okyoung Noh.
IS/LAND Presents: Kizuna Tree
Kizuna Tree is an interactive installation/performance collaboration between AAPI performance collaborative IS/LAND, Detroit Public Television, and Rising Voices. Comprised of an Ikebana Tree designed by Celeste Shimoura Goedert, sound recordings from the collaborative series AAPI Stories originally co-developed by Zosette Guir of DPTV and journalist Dorothy Hernandez as a response to the Atlanta spa shootings in 2021, and movement, visuals, and readings by IS/LAND, Kizuna Tree is an exploration of communal healing for AAPI peoples, across generations, communities, and ethnicities. The restorative and healing properties through this physical movement and storytelling offer the audience an experiential exploration of the interactive connections between the dancers, each other, the audience, and the tree itself.
Author Event | Amazing: Asian American and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us All
Olympic ice dancing medalists Alex and Maia Shibutani discuss their beautifully illustrated picture book highlighting the achievements of many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have made invaluable contributions to the world. They are also joined in discussion by Paralympian Chuck Aoki.
Japanese Rakugo with Sanyutei Ponta
Join visiting Japanese rakugo-ka Sanyutei Ponta for a lively session of traditional, Japanese rakugo.
Album Launch | Jienan Yuan: Your Wave Persists
Jienan Yuan performs music from his new album 'Your Wave Persists', which serves not only as an act of remembrance for loved ones lost but also as an exploration of the nature of memory itself. This event features Kyunghee Kim and Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe as readers, with an opening set by Joo Won Park.
Author Event | Curtis Chin: Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant
AADL welcomes Detroit's own Curtis Chin, author of the memoir Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, in conversation with Doris Truong.
A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the non-profit’s first Executive Director. He went on to write for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more.
Baker 2 Baker: Two Asian American Bakers on Food, Identity, and Community
Local Asian-American bakery owners Grace Han of Porch Bakery and Rachel Liu Martindale of Milk and Honey lead a conversation and demonstration about Asian-American cooking and baking, touching on themes of process, community-building, and identity.