{"id":148756,"date":"2024-03-26T09:23:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T13:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=148756"},"modified":"2024-03-26T10:31:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T14:31:34","slug":"award-winning-author-journalist-to-give-talk-as-part-of-wright-states-asian-american-pacific-islander-heritage-month-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2024\/03\/26\/award-winning-author-journalist-to-give-talk-as-part-of-wright-states-asian-american-pacific-islander-heritage-month-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning author, journalist to give talk as part of Wright State\u2019s Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Putsata Reang will discuss the experiences shared in her memoir, \u201cMa and Me,\u201d on April 4 at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Union Atrium. (Photo by Kim Oanh Nguyen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Growing up in a Cambodian American refugee family while coming to terms with one\u2019s queer identity is the subject of a memoir by Putsata Reang, an award-winning author scheduled to visit Wright State University in April.<\/p>\n

Reang\u2019s talk will focus on experiences shared in \u201cMa and Me,\u201d a memoir exploring her reckoning with the debt and duty she feels she owes her mother, versus her own desire to claim selfhood. The memoir won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award in 2022 and was a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize in 2023.<\/p>\n

Reang\u2019s lecture<\/a> will take place Thursday, April 4, at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Union Atrium on the Dayton Campus. The talk is free and open to the public. A book signing and reception will follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a wealth of experiences in so many areas, professionally and personally, offering students a chance to learn so much more than they can from just reading her work or learning about her in a classroom,\u201d said Nicolyn Woodcock, Ph.D., assistant director of Wright State\u2019s Asian and Native American Center.<\/p>\n

As a literature student herself, Woodcock said she often wanted to be able to ask an author about decisions they made or narrative gaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cReang will be here and we can ask those questions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In addition to the talk, Reang will spend the day at Wright State visiting with students from the Asian Student Association, Rainbow Alliance and The Wright State Guardian and an intercultural communications class taught by Jung-Soo Yi, Ph.D., professor of communication and associate chair of the School of Social Sciences and International Studies.<\/p>\n

Community members can engage with Reang\u2019s writing during the Silent Book Club on Wednesday, April 3, at 2 p.m. in 023 Student Union. Organized by the Asian and Native American Center<\/a>, LGBTQA Center<\/a> and the Women\u2019s Center<\/a>, the book club will provide time, space and quiet company to read or listen to Reang\u2019s writing, including her memoir and shorter pieces, such as \u201cAt Sea, and Seeking Safe Harbor,\u201d from The New York Times\u2019 \u201cModern Love,\u201d and \u201cWhat I Hope for Afghan Refugees,\u201d from Politico.<\/p>\n

Reang\u2019s talk will kick off Wright State\u2019s celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in April.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Additional highlights include Asian Culture Night on April 5, featuring performances, food and fun organized by the Asian Student Association; and a \u201cdinner and a movie\u201d gathering on April 12, beginning with a cherry blossom viewing picnic, followed by a screening of \u201cJoy Ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is observed nationally in May, but Wright State students will finish the semester at the end of April.<\/p>\n

Reang has lived and worked in more than a dozen countries including Cambodia, Afghanistan and Thailand. She has degrees in journalism and English from the University of Oregon. She worked as a reporter for major metropolitan newspapers including the San Jose Mercury News and The Seattle-Times before moving abroad to train journalists in investigative and political reporting in conflict and post-conflict countries.<\/p>\n

Reang is an alumna of writers\u2019 residencies at Hedgebrook, Mineral School and Kimmel Harding Nelson, as well as the Jack Straw Writers Program. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Politico, Ms., and the Guardian, and she has been anthologized in essay collections that highlight women\u2019s and Khmer voices.<\/p>\n

Reang\u2019s talk is organized by the Asian and Native American Center in collaboration with the College of Liberal Arts and with support from Wright-Patt Credit Union.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact the Asian and Native American Center at ana-center@wright.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Putsata Reang will discuss the experiences shared in her memoir, \u201cMa and Me,\u201d on April 4 at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Union Atrium. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":148761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729,725,747,715,4293],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-campus","category-home-news-sidebar","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-student-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148756"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148777,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148756\/revisions\/148777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}