FCPL Celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage

Forsyth County Public Library (FCPL) celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage through a series of free educational programs at all four libraries this May.

“A Very Short History of Chinese American Art” takes place on Sunday, May 1, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. at the Cumming Library, 585 Dahlonega Street. Presented by Yanfei Zhu, Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of North Georgia, this guest lecture will take a sweeping look at some important visual works of art broadly categorized as Chinese American. Some of the artists are Chinese who lived in the United States for an extended period of time such as Zhang Daqian (Chang Dai-chien, 1898-1983) and Ai Weiwei (b. 1957), some are first-generation immigrants like Tyrus Wang (1910-2016) and Hung Liu (1948-2021), and others are American-born artists of Chinese descent, including Mel Chin (b. 1951) and Maya Lin (b. 1959).

The president of the Korean Language Society at the University of Georgia, Lindsay Weinmann presents “The Rise of Korean Culture” on Tuesday, May 10, 7:30 - 8:45 p.m. at Hampton Park Library, 5345 Settingdown Road. This exciting program reflects the growing interest in Korean culture and will include examples of notable K-pop artists and actors, an overview of the K-pop system of recruiting, training, and debuting artists, and some fun video clips. 

Amy Whitten, the Information Specialist coordinating this program at the Hampton Park Library, could not contain her enthusiasm about this topic. “Like many, many others, I was introduced to Korean dramas and K-pop music during the pandemic, and they have added a lot of fun and joy to my life. Learning more about Korea has been a great way to connect with my adult daughter and her friends, friends my age, and literally people all around the world online. I hope everyone will come and be introduced to the richness of Korean culture and the energy and excitement it shares with the world,” Whitten beamed.   

Prepare to be dazzled by the graceful dancers from the Darshini Natyalaya School of Indian Classical Dance in their beautiful and colorful traditional costumes as they perform classical Indian dances on Sunday, May 15, 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. at Post Road Library, 5010 Post Road. Learn about the language of expression in the movements and hand signs and the meaning of the costumes and facial makeup. These dances have carried forward the mythological stories of India from generation to generation while also providing an art form for entertainment.  

“This is a wonderful opportunity to learn the meaning of the dances and also to learn about Indian culture and heritage. The added treat will be the dance students talking about how they blend their Indian and American heritages. I'm looking forward to being entertained and educated all at the same time!” said Angela Robbins, the Information Specialist coordinating this program at the Post Road Library. 

Dr. Mina Kyounghye Kwon, Associate Professor of World and Comparative Literature at the University of North Georgia will present “Stories from Asian American Immigrant Literature” on Tuesday, May 24, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. at Sharon Forks Library, 2820 Old Atlanta Road. This presentation will include a brief history of the Asian American experience as well as a broad survey of the Asian American immigrant experience through literature. Dr. Kwon will also highlight certain notable works, such as John Okada's No-No Boy (1957), Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior (1976), Chang-Rae Lee's Native Speaker (1995), Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies (1999), and Suki Kim's The Interpreter (2003), among others. 

Each event in the series is open to the public and admission is free. For more information please visit the Forsyth County Public Library website at www.forsythpl.org, call 770-781-9840, or connect with FCPL on social media @forsythpl.