BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:Book Talk: "Dream of the Water Children" by Fredrick Cloyd X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific Time (US & Canada) BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260610T220250Z UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_31131576470459 DTSTART:20191003T230000Z DTEND:20191004T003000Z DESCRIPTION:Join us as we hear from Fredrick Cloyd\, author of the book Dre am of the Water Children. Born to an African American father and Japanese mother\, Frederick D. Kakinami Cloyd\, the narrator of Dream of the Water Children\, finds himself not only to be a marginalized person by virtue of his heritage\, but often a cultural drifter\, as well. Indeed\, both his family and his society treat him as if he doesn’t entirely belong to any world. Tautly written in spare\, clear poetic prose\, this memoir explore s the specific contours of Japanese and African American cultures\, as wel l as the broader experience of biracial and multicultural identity. To tel l his story\, Cloyd incorporates photographs and Japanese writing\, histor y\, and memory to convey both rich personal experience and significant his torical detail. Bringing together vivid memories with a perceptive cultura l eye\, Dream of the Water Children brings readers closer to a biracial ex perience\, opening up our understanding of the cultural richness and socia l challenges people from diverse backgrounds face.\n\nThe book talk will b e followed by a Q&A. Discussants include Hapa professors Velina Hasu Houst on (USC School of Dramatic Arts) and Duncan Williams (USC Shinso Ito Cente r). \n\nFlyer\n\nBios:\nFredrick D. Kakinami Cloyd is an independent schol ar-artist-performer-anti-oppression activist. He was born in Japan shortly after the official U.S. Occupation of Japan to a Japanese mother and Afri can-American father in the U.S. military. Cloyd has been published in such publications as Kartika Review\, Oakland Word\, Nikkei Heritage\, and The Pacific Reader\, as well as featured on various radio and television prog rams and interviews. His poetry has been featured at the Japanese National Historical Society and his presentations have been featured in various As ian-American\, social justice\, Queer-of-Color\, Mixed-race\, and African- American history websites and publications. He received his Masters in Soc ial-Cultural Anthropology and Social Transformation. In 2017\, Fredrick's essay: “On Being a Black-Japanese Amerasian Being\,” was published by 2Leaf Press in the anthology: The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives About Being Mixed Race in the 21st Century. He is the author of Dream of t he Water Children: Memory and Mourning in the Black Pacific. Fredrick has been a staff writer for the Hapa Japan Database Project at the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Cultures. \n\nDiscussants: \nVelina Hasu Houston is an internationally celebrated writer with over 28 commiss ions in theatre and opera. While she is foremost a playwright\, her writi ng includes theatre\, film\, television\, essays\, poetry\, and journalism . In New York\, US nationwide\, and globally\, her work has been produced to critical acclaim at many prestigious institutions. For film and televis ion\, she has written work-for-hire for several mainstream companies and i ndependent producers. While her work explores a variety of themes\, it als o is the most-produced work about the Japanese female experience in the U. S. Honored by the Kennedy Center\, Smithsonian Institute\, Rockefeller Fo undation\, Japan Foundation\, Wallace Foundation\, Doris Duke Charitable F oundation\, and others\, she founded graduate studies in playwriting at th e USC School of Dramatic Arts\, where she is Distinguished Professor of Th eatre in Dramatic Writing\, Director of Dramatic Writing\, and Resident Pl aywright. A Fulbright Scholar\, she was on the U.S. Department of State's Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission for six years. In Japan\, she has served as visiting faculty at key institutions. Her archives are with the U.S. Library of Congress and the Huntington Library. She is a member of the Dra matists Guild\, Writers Guild of America-West\, Alliance of Los Angeles Pl aywrights\, and League of Professional Theatre Women\; and an Associate Ar tist of Playwrights’ Arena. Currently\, she is Bookwriter for a musical project. For more information\, click here. \n\nDuncan Ryuken Williams was born in Tokyo\, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father. After grow ing up in Japan and England until age 17\, he moved to the U.S. to attend college (Reed College) and graduate school (Harvard University\, where he received a Ph.D. in Religion). Williams is currently a Professor of Religi on and East Asian Languages & Cultures and the Director of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture. Previously\, he held the Sh injo Ito Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism at the University of Cal ifornia at Berkeley and served as the Director of Berkeley's Center for Ja panese Studies for four years. He has also been ordained since 1993 as a B uddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition and served as the Buddhist chapla in at Harvard University from 1994-96. His latest book is American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War (Harvard University P ress\, 2019). For more information\, click here. GEO:34.019421;-118.287126 LOCATION:Ahmanson Center (ACB)\, Room 238 SUMMARY:Book Talk: "Dream of the Water Children" by Fredrick Cloyd URL;VALUE=URI:https://calendar.usc.edu/event/book_talk_dream_of_the_water_c hildren_by_fredrick_cloyd CATEGORIES:Lecture / Talk / Workshop END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR