Reading of Out of the Shadows of Angkor

The Association of Writers and Writing Programs has accepted our proposal of an event related to Out of the Shadows of Angkor: Cambodian Poetry, Prose, and Performance through the Ages, our winter 2021–summer 2022 volume. A reading featuring Sharon May (guest editor–translator), Trent Walker (guest editor–translator),  Putsata Reang (essayist), Greg Santos (poet), and Sokunthary Svay (essayist–poet) will be part of AWP’s 2023 conference and bookfair, to be held in Seattle from March 8 through 11.

The destruction of much of Cambodia’s classical and contemporary literature occurred during the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s. Tens of thousands of writers, artists, teachers, and intellectuals were systematically murdered. This reading will present the literature that has been recovered as well as the writing of the Cambodian diaspora: songs, poetry, and folktales in brand-new translations; and nonfiction and poetry by young and emerging authors.

Out of the Shadows is supported by grants from Cambodian Living Arts, the Amazon Literary Partnership, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Guest editors Sharon May, Christophe Macquet, Trent Walker, Phina So, Rinith Taing; series editor Frank Stewart.