Navigating With(out) Instruments

With their second book, Navigating With(out) Instruments, traci kato-kiriyama uses her present-political unrest, family love and loss, her own cancer diagnosis-to join the traumas of the past generations with the hope of the future ones. Often seamless, often with a loud bang, kato-kiriyama moves from genre to genre, from poetry to essays to plays and to letters, framed by the history of US colonialism and war mongering, to urge readers to protect and to share their legacies, both personal and communal, as a means of global survival.

"Navigating With(out) Instruments will expand your heart and spirit in all directions — in the marrow of your bones, deep into the earth, out into the streets, and into the stars and beyond..." Yumi Sakugawa, author of Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe

"The elegy according to traci kato-kiriyama's Navigating With(out) Instruments is a hybrid lament in which grief shapeshifts time after time. This book has become my poetic guidepost for survival. May it be for you too." Muriel Leung, author of Imagine Us, The Swarm and Bone Confetti

"A daring self exploration inviting us all to further honor what made us, cherish the breaths we share, and challenge the history that prevents our healing, our building, and our rise." Beau Sia, Tony Award winning poet (Def Poetry), author of Well Played

"traci kato-kiriyama is our time's flame bearer, warning us of past wrong turns and shining light immediately in front of us. She belongs to the circle of poets who release words to restore, galvanize, and goad." Naomi Hirahara, author of the Mas Arai series and Clark and Division

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and this year we’re fortunate to be partnering again with our friends at APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon) to share a curated reading list...

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