in conversation with Karen Tei Yamashita
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
5:30 pm Central
Crowdcast
Rain Taxi presents Sesshu Foster and Arturo Ernesto Romo discussing their stunning new novel Eladatl: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines (City Lights Books), in conversation with Karen Tei Yamashita. Hailed by Jonathan Lethem as “a superb and loving phantasmagoria that gobbles up real histories for breakfast and spits out the seeds," ELADATL tells the story of the little-known period of American air travel, when groups like the East LA Balloon Club were hard at work revolutionizing travel, with an aim to literally lift oppressed people out of racism and poverty. Via overlapping narratives, historic photographs, and recently discovered artifacts, Foster and Romo send up mainstream narratives and maybe the space-time continuum itself in this hybrid literary experiment of the highest order. Come discover with us!
Books can be purchased either during the event or in advance from Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis; just click the button below. Fun Fact: Any and all books you purchase via this link help support Rain Taxi’s virtual event series— thank you!
About the Authors
Sesshu Foster taught composition and literature in East L.A. for over 20 years, and at the University of Iowa, the California Institute for the Arts, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work is published in The Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry, State of the Union: 50 Political Poems, and many other anthologies; his books include City of the Future, poetry, and Atomik Aztex, a novel. A celebrated writer, his literary awards are numerous: the American Book Award, the Asian American Literary Award in Poetry, the Believer Book Award, and more. He is based in Alhambra, CA.
Arturo Ernesto Romo was born in Los Angeles, California in 1980. His artwork, mostly collaborative mixed media works but also drawing, has been circulated internationally. Fluency, agency, and folly are central themes in his practice; he sees his artwork as a companion multiplier, folding folds, netting nets. His art-making is pushed through explorations on the streets of East and North East Los Angeles, which feed into an ongoing series of collaborations with writer Sesshu Foster. He is also based in Alhambra, CA.
Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning works of fiction, including Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Tropic of Orange, and I Hotel, all published by Coffee House Press. She received a US Artists Ford Foundation Fellowship and is Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her most recent book of fiction, Sansei and Sensibility: Stories, was published in 2020.