Systemwide Events Calendar

English department faculty candidate talk

TITLE: Speaking Her Bodies of Stories In this talk, Lyz Soto will focus on the process of translating Her Bodies of Stories from a collection of poems into a multi-cast spoken word theater show that explores some of the struggles of diaspora, the ethics of settler colonialism, and the hope of decolonization in the islands of Hawaiʻi. In considering the production of this show, she will discuss the vital collaborative aspects of this creative process, alongside the craft of spoken word, and some of the surprising ways poetry can be transformed as it moves between text and performance. As Soto shares excerpts from Her Bodies of Stories, she will also look at how the histories of her family’s immigration and settlement in Hawaiʻi inform the writing and performance of this work. Lyz Soto is a performance poet of Visayan, Ilocano, Hakka, German, English, and French descent. She has been a longtime mentor and executive director with Youth Speaks Hawaiʻi and co-founder of Pacific Tongues. Eulogies was published in 2010 by Tinfish Press. Her Bodies of Stories, a spoken arts theater show directed by Grace Teuila Taylor, debuted in December 2016. Her book, Translate Sun/Son/Sum, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2017. She is currently working as dramaturg on She Who Dies to Live, with performance artists Jocelyn Ng, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Terisa Siagatonu, and Jahra Wasasala, and she is also completing Her Bodies of Stories, a multi-genre typographical work based on her spoken arts theater show of the same title.

Ticket Information
N/A Free & open to public

Event Sponsor
Enlgish, Mānoa Campus

More Information
S. Shankar, (808) 956-3085, engchair@hawaii.edu

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