Leanne Dunic & Isaac Yuen Book Launch Reading at Elliott Bay Books Sun 6/9 7pm - Q&A w/ Sierra Nelson
Leanne Dunic & Isaac Yuen with Sierra Nelson on Sunday June 9th, 2024 @ 7:00PM - 8:00PM
Leanne Dunic and Isaac Yuen launch their latest books with the help of local Seattle poet Sierra Nelson. (Elliott Bay Book Co, 1521 10th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122. Free and open to the public.)
In Wet by Leanne Dunic, a transient Chinese American model working in Singapore thirsts for the unattainable: fair labour rights, the extinguishing of nearby forest fires, breathable air, healthy habitats for animals, human connection. She navigates place and placelessness while observing other migrant workers toiling outdoors despite the hazardous conditions. In photographs and language shot through with empathy and desire, Wet unravels complexities of social stratification, sexual privation, and environmental catastrophe.
In a time of dirges and elegies for the natural world, Utter, Earth by Isaac Yuen features odes to sloths, tributes to trilobites, and ringing endorsements for lichen. For animal lovers and readers of Brian Doyle, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Amy Leach, each essay of this one-of-a-kind collection combines joyous language, whimsical tangents, and scientific findings to remind us of and reconnect us with those to whom we are inextricably bound. Highlighting life that once was, still is, and all that we stand to lose, this living and lively mini encyclopedia (complete with glossary) shines the spotlight on the motley, fantastical, and astonishing denizens with whom we share this planet.
BIOS:
Leanne Dunic transgresses genres and form to produce projects such as One and Half of You (Talonbooks, 2021) To Love the Coming End (Book*hug / Chin Music Press 2017) and The Gift (Book*hug 2019). She is the leader of the band The Deep Cove and lives on the unceded and occupied Traditional Territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ peoples.
Isaac Yuen is a first-generation Hong Kong Canadian author. His work has appeared in AGNI, Gulf Coast, Orion, Shenandoah, Tin House, and numerous other publications. He has held residencies and fellowships at the Jan Michalski Foundation for Literature in Switzerland and the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute of Advanced Studies in Germany. Utter, Earth is his first solo book.
Sierra Nelson is a Seattle-based poet, lyric essayist, and multimedia performance artist. Nelson’s books include The Lachrymose Report (PoetryNW Editions) and collaborative I Take Back the Sponge Cake (Rose Metal Press), and she edited the cephalopod-inspired poetry anthology Three Hearts (World Enough Writers). A MacDowell Fellow and Carolyn Kizer Prize winner, her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies including Cascadia Field Guide and I Sing the Salmon Home.
More event info: https://www.elliottbaybook.com/events/20240609
