New Issue of Illumen Out!

Illumen's Spring 2007 issue (#6) has a lot going for it, but some particular highlights to me is the large number of Asian American voices in it that is sure to make it a collector's item in the future.

The cover features the work of Sri Lankan American artist Chamindika Wanduragala, whose art experiments with a visual response to Audre Lorde's concept of Biomythography, an intertwining of personal experience, history and myth.



You can check out her work at www.myspace.com/chamindika

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Among the amazing writers who are featured in this issue are:

Burlee Vang, Recipient of the Paj Ntaub Voice 2006 Prize In Poetry. Published in several issues of Paj Ntaub Voice literary journal, Random House’s "20 Something Essays by 20 Something Writers: Best New Voices of 2006", and Heyday Book’s forthcoming update of "Highway 99".

Vietnamese American writer Linh Dinh, is the author of 2 collections of stories, Fake House (Seven Stories Press 2000) and Blood and Soap (Seven Stories Press 2004), and 4 books of poems, All Around What Empties Out (Tinfish 2003), American Tatts (Chax 2005), Borderless Bodies (Factory School 2006) and Jam Alerts (Chax 2007). Blood and Soap was chosen by the Village Voice as one of the best books of 2004.

This issue of Illumen also features Hmong American writer Samy Elisabeth Yang, a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in Creative Writing. She's also the literary editor for Unplug Magazine.

Another Vietnamese American writer, Bao Phi, is also featured. A nationally recognized poet, his work appears in the 2006 Best American Poetry, chosen by Billy Collins, former poet laureate of the United States.

I've also got some new pieces in this issue of Illumen as well.

So, between Linh Dinh, Bao Phi, Samy Yang, Burlee Vang, Bryan Thao Worra and the art of Chamindika Wanduragala, as well as the many other writers included in this issue, it's really a unique issue.

It's quite possibly the first to gather so many Asian American artists and writers together around speculative poetry- a genre that draws as much upon traditional poetry as mythology, folklore, science fiction, fantasy and horror.

I'm biased, but I seriously think you should pick this one up.

It's available for purchase at http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#illumen

Check it out!