nwasianweekly.com
Mar. 21, 2008

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion
Belinda Chin, chair of Rainbow Bookfest, listens to writer Alex Kuo at Bookfest 2006. (Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion)

Rainbow Bookfest

By Stacy Nguyen
Northwest Asian Weekly

Five years ago, a friend suggested to Assunta Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, that she should host an event promoting authors of color — authors the mainstream literary community was unaware of.

Ng ran with the idea and, with the help of numerous volunteers, created the Rainbow Bookfest, a literary festival she hoped would inspire young people to write and read as well as establish authors of color as role models in the minority community.

For five years, as a labor of love, Ng spearheaded the Bookfest. However, the success of the venture and the consequent workload forced Ng to consider hosting the event once every other year instead of annually.

The volunteer-run planning committee decided to step in at that point and take over for Ng. Belinda Chin, the current chair of the planning committee, said of Ng, “She will always be our honorary chair.”

When asked whether she is sad not be organizing the event this year, Ng responded, “I’m relieved that Belinda is willing to take the challenge. Her leadership and passion are inspiring. In the past when you’re an organizer, you only get to work. You are always worried about the event. This time, I want to be able to enjoy the event!”

This year, Rainbow Bookfest will be held at a new location, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, on April 5. Previously, it was held at the Asian Resource Center. The event is, as always, free and open to the public.

A new programming addition by Chin is the World Cafe, a forum for authors to network, present their literature and talk about their personal experiences with publishing, and for audiences to meet writers who are not yet published.

Another highlight of this year’s programming is a panel hosted by Hedgebrook on the challenges — and triumphs — of translating literary works into English.

“We have an overall mission to engage the community in a festive event that celebrates authors of color,” Chin said, explaining why it’s important to have the Rainbow Bookfest continue. “It’s important to get people of color there because we are part of the American fabric … the literary community has been affected by racial and social injustice. In the literary world some boundaries have been set. Our efforts are about getting voices of color up to the table — and taking a place at that table.”

When asked why she thought the Bookfest is an important part of the community, Ng stated, “I think we have very strong and powerful voices in our community and they have a very different perspective. Our communities have amazing stories to share. Those diverse perspectives are really important to America. If we don’t have a Bookfest like this, then maybe these authors wouldn’t be discovered. If you only read the same voices, how far can you get? How much can you learn?”

This year, the two featured speakers at the Bookfest will be Quintard Taylor and Shawn Wong, both professors at the University of Washington. Dr. Taylor is an expert in the academic world on African American history, particularly in the American West. Wong is the author of two novels as well as an authority on creative writing and Asian American studies.

Both Ng and Chin stressed that one of the reasons the Bookfest is so important is because it serves as a source of inspiration for young people, for them to see and hear the thoughts of other people who look like them. “The Bookfest serves to broaden the imagination and creativity,” Chin said, “so (young people) know that they can be leaders and make a change in the world.”

“If we can expose our young people earlier,” Ng said, “both to mainstream and authors of color at an early age, they can understand the world so much more. We can develop the mind much earlier.”

For more information, visit www.rainbowbookfest.com.

Stacy Nguyen can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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