Join the Little Tokyo community in celebrating the hybrid launch of traci kato-kiriyama’s book “Navigating With(out) Instruments” on ?? ??? ??Sunday, April 10, at Terasaki Budokan, 249 S. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles.

Doors open for book sales and light refreshments at 2:45 p.m.; program starts at 3:15 p.m.

The event, which is free and open to all ages, will be held in-person and online.

Limited underground parking lot at Terasaki Budokan; parking also available across the street at Wakaba and throughout Little Tokyo.

Call of Navigation to Seats by the ever-clamorous sage and special guest Beau Sia.

The author will give a reading in conversation with veteran poet, OG Tuesday Night Café artist, and special guest Sequoia Mercier.

The online launch will be hosted by Sophia Chang and Sophie Wang.

Followed by book sales and signing, dancing to beats provided by the fantabulous DJ Lomo, and raffle with prizes that include gift cards from Azay and Café Dulce. Raffle tickets provided with every book purchase ($15.95 — credit card, Venmo, cash accepted).

For in-person attendees, the following will be required: proof of Vaccination (photo of your card is acceptable), temperature check at welcome table, masks on throughout the event (unless consuming food or drink).

Community sponsors: Azay, Café Dulce, Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress, Nikkei Progressives, Okaeri, Terasaki Budokan, Tuesday Night Project, Vigilant Love, Visual Communications.

For those purchasing the book in advance, it is available at the Japanese American National Museum, The Green Door Store, Village Well Books & Coffee, and Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore.

To RSVP, go to: www.eventbrite.com/e/240741673827

About the Book

With their second book, “Navigating With(out) Instruments,” kato-kiriyama uses her present — political unrest, family love and loss, her own cancer diagnosis — to bridge the traumas of the past generations with the hope of the future ones.

Often seamless, often with a loud bang, kato-kiriyama moves from genre to genre, from poetry to prose, essay to monologue to letters — framed by U.S. colonialism and war-mongering alongside the intimate navigation through memory, death, and transformation— to urge readers to protect and to share their legacies, both personal and communal, as a means of global survival.

“traci kato-kiriyama is our time’s flame-bearer, warning us of past wrong turns and shining light immediately in front of us. She belongs to the circle of poets who release words to restore, galvanize, and goad. I will be picking up ‘Navigating With(out) Instruments’ often to remind myself where we’ve been and to determine where we need to go. An essential addition to a 21^st-century library.” — Naomi Hirahara, author of the Mas Arai series and “Clark and Division”

“Not all books do something, but traci kato-kiriyama’s ‘Navigating With(out) Instruments’ does because it envisions us. The book teaches me tiny, tender, and courageous ways I can transform now and next time on my own way to getting free next to everyone else getting free.” — Sara Borjas, author of “Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff

“Like Ishmael Reed, traci kato-kiriyama believes writin’ is fightin’ and she pulls no punches in this incandescent offering. Traci is one of our most necessary voices, fighting cancer, dislocation and marginalization, death in the family and death in life, articulating community against a fierce headwind. Hitting a multiplicity of registers, traci speaks the names of resistance.” — Sesshu Foster, author of “City of the Future”

About the Author

Based on unceded Tongva land in the South Bay of Los Angeles, kato-kiriyama (they+she) is an award-winning multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary artist, recognized for their work as a writer/performer, theatre deviser, cultural producer, and community organizer. As a storyteller and artivist, tkk is grounded in collaborative process, collective self-determination, and art+community as intrinsically tied and a critical means toward connection and healing. She is a performer and principal writer for PULLproject Ensemble, two-time NET recipient; NEFA 2021-22 finalist for their show “Tales of Clamor.”

She presented for over 25 years in hundreds of venues throughout North America as a writer, actor, poet, speaker, guest lecturer, facilitator, artist-in-residence, and organizing/arts & culture consultant, and has come to appreciate a wildly hybrid career (with presenters including LaMaMa Cabaret; Enwave Theatre; The Smithsonian; The Getty; Skirball Cultural Center; and Hammer Museum, to Zero Gravity; Grand Park; Whisky a Go Go; Hotel Cafe; House of Blues Foundation Room; and countless universities, arts spaces, and community centers across the country). 

Their work is also featured in a wide swath of media and print publications (including NPR; PBS; Elle.com; Entropy; Chapparal Canyon Press; Tia Chucha Press; Bamboo Ridge Press; Heyday Books; Regent Press).

On the Web: http://www.traciakemi.com

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