Joon Ae HK

Mark your calendars for our next three Words as Lifelines events from Jan, Feb, and March. January's reading will be our 6th reading and will feature novelists. Register with the link in my bio.

***Open to All!*** Registration is open! Link in bio!

Date: Sunday, Jan 25th
Time: 3-4pm PST / 6–7pm EST
Cost: Minimum $5 donation
Format: Virtual

(This will NOT be recorded or distributed.)

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Event flyer for Words as Lifelines BIPOC adoptee voices for Gaza reading series featuring novelists on Jan 25th: Malcolm Hansen, Stefany Valentine, Alice Stephens. On Feb 11th, we'll have Daniel Drennan ElAwar, Andrew Lee, and Kit Myers. March 29th features some of our beloved BIPOC adoptee allies: Alan Dettlaff, All events are from 3-4pm PST / 6-7 EST, online virtual

It’s Joud’s birthday week! 🎂 Joud is going to be 6-years-old this week, and Taibi and I want to celebrate by doing a little fundraiser for a birthday present. (When we met Joud, he was just 4-years-old!)

Joud is Tamara’s nephew, born to her sister Mandi and brother-in-law, Alaa. He’s been through A LOT, and he’s such a sweet boy! Help us give him a little extra birthday joy!

Taibi made these sweet little birthday magnets from hand-poured resin and metal ally components. The sliding scale price $15-30. No questions asked! Pay what makes sense to you!

Shipping is not included and expected to cost ~$8. Shipping will be arranged via DM/text with Taibi.

To buy a magnet:
- DM Joon Ae to let them know which one you want (to make sure it’s still available).
- Venmo / Paypal Joon Ae
- Look for a DM to connect you to Taibi for shipping

You can always just send a cash gift without a purchase if you simply want to contribute. 🎁

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Fundraiser slide carousel that reads Happy 6th birthday Joud. Birthday Fundraiser Celebration. Selling mini plate magnets with a donut, cake, and tea cup on each plate.

*REGISTRATION IS OPEN!*
During this in-person, 4-hour workshop, we will experience shared ritual, guided meditation, writing prompts, and community connection. (Plus, we’ll have snacks.)

No writing experience is necessary! This gathering is less about craft and more about opening a dialogue with our diasporic identities and honoring our connections to each other, our pasts, the present, and the futures we are co-creating.

We hope to help our community:
- Unlock some of our personal and ancestral stories
- Connect to the wisdom of our lineage and the Korean spiritual tradition
- Witness each other and leave feeling seen, felt, and heard
- Belong to each other, to our ancestry, and to our shared cultural heritage
- Honor the stories within us

Details:
👋 Who: Open to all members of the Korean diaspora (including adoptees and multiracial Koreans)
🗓️ When: Thurs, Sept 4 from 1-5pm
📍Where: Filipino Bayanihan Center at 1537 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR
💲Cost: Sliding scale from $10-75 (Suggested donation $25 - no one turned away for lack of funds. Please email us if you need a full scholarship.)

✨Important note: Please bring an item or talisman that is important/meaningful/sacred to you.

📖 All attendees will receive a free copy of the book Return: Korea’s Rituals of Death, Spirits, and Ancestors by Chanho Park, essays published by Seo Choi.

Learn more on the registration site. See link in bio or type “bit.ly/kdiaspora” into your browser.

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Event flyer that reads: Save the Date. “Reconnecting to Diaspora: Reclaiming Story: A writing workshop for Korean diaspora to connect to culture, history, ancestry, and each other through writing and shamanic practice.” There are three photos of Korean diaspora women and femmes. Thursday, Sept 4, 2025 in Portland, OR at the Filipino Bayahihan Center, 1537 SE Morrison St

***Open to All! Please Share!***
Please register for event #2 of our monthly fundraiser reading series to help our friends survive the genocide in Gz. bit.ly/wordsaslifelines2

Date: Sunday, August 31st
Time: 3-4pm PST / 6–7pm EST
Cost: Minimum $5 donation
Format: Virtual

(This will NOT be recorded or distributed.)

Nicole Chung (she/her)is the author of the award-winning memoir A Living Remedy, which was named a Notable Book by The New York Times and a Best Book of the Year by over a dozen other outlets. Her 2018 debut All You Can Ever Know was a national bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Chung has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Time, Esquire, The Washington Post, and many other publications.

K E Garland (she/her) is a same-race, domestic adoptee and an award-winning creative nonfiction writer and blogger. She writes to demarginalize women’s issues. Her essays have been published in several anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Soul’s I’m Speaking Now: Black Women Share their Truth in 101 Stories of Love, Courage and Hope and Mamas, Martyrs, and Jezebels. Her work has also appeared in online magazines, such as midnight & indigo and Raising Mothers. Garland’s debut memoir, In Search of a Salve: Memoir of a S*x Addict, illustrates how unresolved, interrelated trauma, including adoption, can lead to a behavioral addiction. Her book was long listed for the 2023 Santa Fe Writers Project. She is also a co-founder of the Black Adoptees Meetup.

Matthew Salesses (he/him) is a Korean adoptee and author of eight books, including the most recent The Sense of Wonder, the national bestseller Craft in the Real World, and the PEN/Faulkner finalist Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear. He has a forthcoming memoir To Grieve Is to Carry Another Time. His work has appeared in Best American Essays 2020, The Guardian, NPR Code Switch, and too many to list here. Named one of BuzzFeed’s 32 Essential Asian American Writers, he has received honors from PEN/Faulkner Foundation, Dublin Literary Award, and Bread Loaf and many more. He teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech.