Celebrating National Poetry Month
with San Francisco Poet Laureate Genny Lim, Chun Yu, Michael Warr, Shabnam Piryaei, Rafael Gonzalez, and Maw Shein Win with Kenneth Wong

Celebrate National Poetry Month at Mechanics’ Institute with San Francisco Poet Laureate Genny Lim, Chun Yu, Michael Warr, Shabnam Piryaei, Rafael Gonzalez, and Maw Shein Winn with Kenneth Wong. Together, the readers will explore poetry across language and borders, performing works in translation and in their language of origin.

About the Speakers

Genny Lim is a native San Francisco poet, playwright, performer, and educator. She is the author of three poetry collections and the award-winning play Paper Angels, about Chinese immigrants detained on Angel Island. She is also the co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940, 2nd edition. She is a former San Francisco Arts Commissioner and helped create the Cultural Equity Arts program and Writers Corp. She was the San Francisco Jazz Poet Laureate from 2016 to 2018. She served on the faculty of New College of California and currently teaches at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. 

Chun Yu, Ph.D. 俞淳博士 is an award-winning bilingual poet (English and Chinese), multimedia artist, poetry and environmental installation artist, graphic novelist, scientist, and culture and community connector. Chun Yu’s first book LITTLE GREEN: Growing Up During the Chinese Cultural Revolution has won multiple national awards. Chun Yu contributed to the award-winning anthology Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace, edited by Maxine Hong Kingston (Koa Books). Her graphic novel on Chinese history is to be published by First Second Books (Macmillan). Her work is taught in world history and culture classes in the U.S. and internationally. Chun Yu is a Library Laureate 2023 of San Francisco Public Library and an honoree of YBCA 100 award (2020)

Michael Warr is the 2020 Berkeley Lifetime Achievement Awardee and Poetry Editor of the anthology Of Poetry & Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin (W.W. Norton). His books of poetry include The Armageddon of Funk, Power Lines: A Decade of Poetry From Chicago’s Guild Complex, as a co-editor, and We Are All The Black Boy. In 2017 he was named a San Francisco Library Laureate. Michael is the former Deputy Director of the Museum of the African Diaspora and a board member of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. For work in Chinese and English and bilingual writing workshops go to: Two Languages / One Community. 

Shabnam Piryaei is an Iranian American writer and filmmaker. Shabnam is the author of the novel Forward, and the poetry books all children., Nothing is Wasted, and Ode to Fragile. Her play “A Time to Speak” was staged at the MAD Theatre Festival in the United Kingdom. She is the founder and curator of MUSEUM, the online art and interview journal, and she holds a PhD in Comparative Literature.She has written and directed award-winning films, and is currently directing and producing a documentary film about asylum seekers across the U.S./Mexico border entitled NO SEPARATE SURVIVAL.

Rafael Jesús González taught Creative Writing & Literature at Laney College, Oakland, California where he founded the Mexican & Latin American Studies Dept. Four times nominated for a Pushcart Prize, he was honored by the National Council of Teachers of English for his writing 2003. He received a César Chávez Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 and one from the City of Berkeley 2015. In 2017 he was named Berkeley's first Poet Laureate.

Maw Shein Win’s latest full-length poetry collection is Percussing the Thinking Jar. Her previous full-length collection Storage Unit for the Spirit House was nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry, longlisted for the PEN America Open Book Award, and shortlisted for the Golden Poppy Award for Poetry. She is the inaugural poet laureate of El Cerrito, CA. Win’s previous collections include Invisible Gifts and two chapbooks, Ruins of a glittering palace and Score and Bone. Win often collaborates with visual artists, musicians, and other writers and her Process Note Series features poets on their process.She teaches poetry in the MFA Program at University of San Francisco. Along with Dawn Angelicca Barcelona and Mary Volmer, she is a co-founder of Maker, Mentor, Muse, a literary community.