April Fools' and "Awkward Family" event at the Meadows Museum
SHREVEPORT, LA — On April 1 at 5:30 p.m. at the Meadows Museum of Art, distinguished author Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith will read from his collection of poetry The Land Baron's Sun, The Story of Ly Loc and His Seven Wives, based on the experiences of his grandfather. His reading will be followed by an open microphone opportunity for regional poets to present their poems about family in conjunction with the current Awkward Family Photos exhibition. Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Algur Meadows Museum.
Smith, a native of Vietnam who received his M.F.A in creative writing from McNeese State University, has been published in Crab Orchard Review, Xavier Review, Pembroke, Northridge Review, and Amerasia Journal (UCLA). He received an ATLAS grant by the Louisiana Board of Regents and earned first place in the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Fellowship competition. He is a recipient of a Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship.
As explained by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, "The Land Baron's Sun chronicles the life of Lý Loc, the son of an affluent Vietnamese landowner who was thought to own the sun by his twenty-seven children, seven wives, servants, and tenant farmers because it had always shone favorably upon him. On April 20, 1975, the day Saigon fell, fate took a cruel turn for Lý Loc. His capture by the Việt Cộng and incarceration in a reeducation camp marked only the beginning of the sun recouping all that it had bestowed upon Lý Loc and his family. Smith's poems expose the beauty and freedom of the human spirit and the lushness that was once Vietnam; likewise, they show the undeniable oppression of a country divided on itself and the struggle its people went through to survive."
Smith lives with his wife and two daughters in Ruston, LA, where he teaches literature, composition, and creative writing at Louisiana Tech University.
About the Meadows Museum of Art
The Meadows Museum of Art is located on the campus of Centenary College of Louisiana at 2911 Centenary Boulevard in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Museum is free and open to the public Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. For more information or to schedule field trips, call the Museum at 318.869.5040.