Asian American Literature Festival
asian american literature festival biannual washington dc based literary festival dedicated sharing growing asian american literature first held asian american literature festival event produced smithsonian asian pacific american center first asian american literature festival held national portrait gallery library congress phillips collection major guest included kazim ali liyoung lee karen tei yamashita second asian american literature festival held eaton dc library congress major guest included kaveh akbar monique truong arthur sze july smithsonian leadership abruptly cancelled event one month scheduled date citing “unforeseen circumstance cancellation came surprise thousand planned attendee partner organization including government australia new zealand spent nearly programming flight visa cost july author academic connected festival signed open letter decrying saw cancellation motivated fear controversy citing smithsonians recent review trans nonbinary program planned part festival may washington post announced asian american literature festival would return september without smithsonian instead festival organized collective literary group including kundiman kaya press