Events

Local writer Eric C. Wat returns to the Armory Center with the launch of his new short story collection, Daddy Issues, winner of the Barbara diBernard Prize in Fiction. Like the artists in our current exhibit, my hands are monsters who believe in magic, the characters in Wat’s collection of nine stories – queer and Asian, almost all in Southern California – navigate their growth and reinvention in ways that are messy, funny, and heartbreaking. Acclaimed poet Sesshu Foster says, “Unstinting and deep, Daddy Issues roils the mirror surfaces of our days with cutting candor and intense, unexpected compassion. Eric Wat’s characters body forth revelatory insight as they emerge from marginalization into hard-fought light.” Steven Reigns, the first poet laureate of West Hollywood, adds, “Intelligent without pretense, Daddy Issues captures a nuanced portrait of LA’s mosaic of lives on the edge of change, for anyone who has known the precarious business of intimacy.” Eric will read from the collection and be in conversation with poet and film curator, Irene Saxon Soriano (Primates from an Archipelago).

The event is free to attend. RSVP appreciated.

Eric C. Wat
Eric C. Wat is the author of four books, including his Los Angeles Times-bestselling debut novel SWIM (2019). His last book, Love Your Asian Body: AIDS Activism in Los Angeles won the outstanding award in History from the Association of Asian American Studies in 2023. His second novel manuscript Drive was a finalist of the Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing contest in 2022. Eric has a long history of working with progressive community-based organizations, a fountain from which he continues to draw his creative inspiration, and he continues to support many nonprofit organizations through his consulting and volunteer practice.

Irene Saxon Soriano
Irene Soriano is a Filipinx American poet and film programmer whose work is rooted in social engagement and cultural inquiry. Her debut poetry collection, Primates from an Archipelago (Rabbit Fool Press, 2017), investigates the layered complexities of identity, memory, and the intergenerational impacts of immigration. She founded “Wrestling Tigers,” the first Asian Pacific American literary reading series in Los Angeles, which she curated from 1994 to 1998 at the Japanese American National Museum. In addition to her literary work, Irene programs short films for the Sundance Film Festival. Central to Irene’s organizing mission in film and literary spaces are the principles of building community and fostering collaborations for the storytelling projects she champions. She is working on a new collection of poetry titled "The Weapons Between Us," exploring her mother's personal history through archival materials, diaries, and historical flashpoints.