Cynthia Arrieu-King

I wanted to put together a list of movies that people watch in their own custom holiday rituals, and maybe expand the idea of what a holiday movie is. Or not. Either way, I'm looking forward to watching some of these titles. --CK * Every holiday season, my family watches Tombstone (1993). It has nothing to do with the holidays, though there is some snow and festiveness...eventually, sort of. We love the irreverence of Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday character in contrast with the stoic Earps, and the varied mirror-image of the hateful villains (to include the system of law enforcement). We love the presentation of human fallibility and the artistry of the cinematography, the straightforward storytelling and the portrayal of the American West as truly problematic as opposed to romantic, and the general subversiveness of it as a Western. A quotable classic! -- Khadijah Queen Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978) This is as much a seasonal film as a holiday film, which reminds me how tied h...

I've been lucky enough this fall to read with performance artist Susannah Simpson and poet Aimee C. Harrison at the Paradiso reading series in Durham NC in late September. I also read with Julian Brolanski at the Kelly Writer's House on October 27th with a recording of this latter event here. I'm reading tomorrow evening with Laura Jaramillo and Pattie McCarthy for A Novel Idea, Philly. This event requires a donation for the tickets (5 dollars I think) and you can register here. I shall be at AWP in Philadelphia, especially lurking around at the bookfair. Find my new books at the Octopus Books table in the unofficial bookfair and The Betweens at the Noemi book table. I'll be reading again some time in the spring through the Visiting Writers Series at the school where I teach, Stockton University, and for Donna Vorreyer's new on-line series, still forming and molten hot. Here's an interview about The Betweens that Joanna Penn Cooper did with me, introduced by Em...

Two of my books were published this spring. I knew there was a situation with the workers at SPD, and coming up on decisions about the distribution, I asked both presses + presses of my previous books + presses of friends what their stance was in February. I forwarded major communications about SPD to both presses since February including the fact that Yes Yes Books came out with a statement about their moving of all their books to Ingram for distribution. Noemi put out a statement (found  here ) on March 3rd. The spreadsheet keeping track of the presses states their statement is "outdated" as of June 1st 2021. Noemi had not received any notice about this boycott before I forwarded the spreadsheet to them, nor do they have the same resources or people to do what Yes Yes Books did. I have urged people since 2010 not to buy from SPD when I learned what their cut of a book is, not to mention their pay to play highlighting of certain titles. Since 2010, I'd also not bought bo...

I did write about The Betweens and race for my hometown arts weekly and appreciate the help given by the editors there.  Thanks so much to Lily Nilipour for writing about The Betweens at The Stanford Daily . Very much appreciate the thoughtfulness and attention. Here's an excerpt from The Betweens that Jason Zuzga kindly posted in Fence.

Continuity has launched. We had a fire reading on April 13th with Tamiko Beyer, Heather Green, Christine Shan Shan Hou, Irene Mathieu, and Sa'Miyah Wright.  My contributor copies have arrived. I have come to the end of a very grueling time on top of the pandemic and will not be doing any readings in person for the forseeable future: I do hope to do virtual readings in the fall, so let me know if you are interested in having me visit your classroom or do a reading. If you're interested in getting a signed copy of the book, you can contact me on Instagram with a screenshot of a donation of $10+ to The People's Fridge in Philadelphia, a robust network of community fridges that are filled by the public and the food taken by the public. Read more about them here.  People have already donated a nice chunk of money to them in exchange for some Futureless Language copies I had floating around in Kentucky. 

Oof, it's been a long time, so I have several updates. First, one March 15th, Noemi published  The Betweens . I strongly recommend buying directly from the press. If you're going to buy from anyone else, I'd recommend an independent bookstore: definitely helps when you ask for the book in a brick and mortar store. I am not doing any signings in the forseeable future, but will leave some signed copies with Carmichael's Bookstore in Kentucky--they may ship. When I get back to Pennsylvania, I will leave some signed copies with the amazing independent bookstore  Harriett's Bookshop , which ships nationwide. My niece told me about John Green  leaving signed copies in random used book stores with the help of his scientist brother. And other shenanigans. *Interesting*. I have the hope that anyone who is part Asian and/or has felt between an Asian culture and another one will enjoy reading this book.  If you would like a review copy, please contact Noemi...