PRIDE TAIWAN - a series of LGBTQ events with a Taiwanese flair - will be held in New York from April through June to underscore Taiwan's leading role in advancing gender equality and freedom of speech in Asia.
The three-part program will open with "Legacy of an LGBTQ Countercultural Icon” – A Talk on Taiwanese Novelist Qiu Miaojin’s Works on April 21 in remembrance of the late writer-trailblazer who took her life at the age of 26.
Co-organized with the 2018 PEN American World Voices Festival, "Legacy of an LGBTQ Countercultural Icon" will look into how Qiu's writing has re-shaped Taiwanese perception during a time of social and political vilification of LGBTQ groups.
The April 21 forum at Dixon Place will feature Bonnie Huie, translator of Qiu's "Notes of a Crocodile"; Ari Larissa Heinrich, translator of her "Last Words from Montmartre"; and poet-novelist Eileen Myles.
Next up in June is an evening of readings and discussions under the banner "Pride Voices: New Plays from Taiwan" with two leading contemporary Taiwanese playrights – Chien Li-ying and Tsai Pao-chang – at the Martin E. Segal Theater of CUNY.
As established queer artists, their highly political and engaged works not only give voice to an emerging cultural movement in Taiwan, their creative processes and cultural productions also shed light on the struggles and achievements of the LGBTQ community in Taiwan and Asia today.
The admission-free evening will include discussions on "The Possible Memoirs of a Traitor," which Chien uses to uncover stories from a Taipei gay shelter in the 1990s, and Tsai's "Solo Date," in which a man harnesses artificial intelligence in an attempt to reconnect with his deceased lover.
The "Pride Taiwan" program will wrap up after the 2018 New York Pride March with free screenings of "Alifu, the Prince/ss" – a film on a tribal chieftain's heir who identifies as a woman and "Looking For?" – a Taiwanese documentary on gay dating apps – at the LGBTQ Center and Taiwan Academy in New York.
Legacy of an LGBTQ Countercultural Icon
Date: April 21, 2018
Time: 7.30 – 8.30pm
Venue: Dixon Place
Address: 161A Christy Street, New York, NY 10002
Tickets: US$15 (Use promo code "TAIPEI2018" for $10)
Pride Voices: New Plays from Taiwan
June 26, Tue., 6:30-8:30pm Readings + Discussion
Segal Theatre | 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
FREE + Open to public | First come, first served
Screening | The Possible Memoirs of a Traitor by Li-Ying Chien
June 29, Fri., 6:30-8:30pm Screening + Discussion
Taiwan Academy | 1 East 42nd St., New York, NY 10017
FREE + Open to public | First come, first served
LGBTQ Films from Taiwan
“Alifu, the Prince/ss” by Yu-lin Wang
June 27, Wed., 7:00-9:00pm Screening + Discussion with the Director and Prof. Ron Gregg
The LGBTQ Center | 208 West 13th St., New York, NY 10011
Free admission
“Looking For?” by Tung-yen Chou
June 28, Thur., 7:00-9:00pm Screening + Discussion with the Director and Prof. Ron Gregg
Taiwan Academy | 1 East 42nd St., New York, NY 10017
Free admission