All posts tagged: Kickstarter

Kickstarter Project: Bringing Xieng Mieng to Lao American Children

Published by

Nor Sanavongsay is a Lao-American illustrator and writer living and working in San Francisco area. He’s created award-winning projects for Encyclopædia Britannica, Sears, and is currently designing interfaces for Barnes & Noble NOOK. He is currently working on the Xieng Mieng children’s book series and a character known as Kiwi the Green Koala. He recently launched a kickstarter to finish making the first Xieng Mieng Book at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nawdsign/lao-childrens-book-xieng-mieng-adventures . Gently, easy-going and usually quiet, he was incredibly talkative about finally making this new book. Many of us who’ve known him since his days with the SatJaDham Lao Literary Project remember his enthusiasm and excitement over 10 years ago. It’s a labor of love for Nor, who’s also been helping so many other Lao projects and his fellow artists. He’s got fans across the country, but has usually kept a low-profile when talking about himself. But I think you’ll agree he has an inspiring story. This January, I was able to convince him to do an interview for Little Laos on the Prairie. Thanks for talking with us, …

Crowdfunding the Lao American imagination

Published by

One of my big projects this season has been crowdfunding the deluxe edition of my new book, DEMONSTRA, a book of Lao American speculative poetry.  I wanted to work with the acclaimed Lao American artist Vongduane Manivong to help our community gain a renewed appreciation for the classic Lao myths, and to celebrate and rekindle Lao imagination. My publishers at Innsmouth Free Press were gracious enough to give me permission to take a question to my readers: Do people really want a book of speculative poetry, especially one with art, from a Lao American perspective?  It sounds like a tough sell to a lot of people. We were successfully funded in 24 hours, and we’re well on our way to getting almost a dozen more original illustrations commissioned for the book. It will be the first I released since representing Laos as a Cultural Olympian during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. I’ve done my research. I know the numbers. Depending on how you figure it, in the US there are between 200,000 to 400,000 …