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Immigration, Identity and the Arts: NEA Big Read no. 4
March 25, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm CDT
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NEA Big Read no. 4
March 25 @ 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm CDT
Immigration, Identity and the Arts
This event will focus on the stories of the African immigrant community.
For more information about this series, click here.
Register for this event, in person or online HERE.
Join us for a thought-provoking conversation on the experiences of African immigrants in the U.S. through the lenses of music, literature, and Thi Bui’s NEA Big Read book, The Best We Could Do. Minnesota author and educator Shannon Gibney will host a dialogue with Nigerian composer-performer Kashimana Ahua — an ACF awardee — and Somali author Abdullahi Janno. The event will feature Janno’s children’s book When River Stopped Singing to Cloud (copies will be available), plus music by Ahua.
Shannon Gibney is a writer, educator, activist, and the author of See No Color (Carolrhoda Lab, 2015), and Dream Country (Dutton, 2018) young adult novels that won Minnesota Book Awards in 2016 and 2019. Gibney is faculty in English at Minneapolis College, where she teaches writing. A Bush Artist and McKnight Writing Fellow, her new novel, The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be, explores themes of transracial adoption through speculative memoir (Dutton, 2023). Gibney’s other upcoming publications include the picture books Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight (University of Minnesota Press, 2023), and Where We Come From (Lerner, 2022; coauthored), and a YA anthology of stories by adoptees about adoptees, co-edited with Nicole Chung (HarperTeen, 2023).
Kashimana Ahua is a mother, musician, vocalist, composer, producer, and teaching artist. The name Kashimana means ‘that’s their 
heart’ and you can hear it beating in the compelling sound of their music, which is an immersive exploration of Soul, Acoustic R&B, Folk, Afro-funk, and more. Kashimana’s work authentically expresses a vulnerability full of joy and pain in their performances that seek to heal, soothe, ignite connected creativity and transmogrify each participant to a deeper level of life, love, understanding, and consciousness.
Kashimana is a 2021 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, a Creative Support Grantee, Artists Respond Cohort, Creative Respond Fund grantee and Creative Support Grantee.
Abdullahi Janno is a storyteller and educator. He’s the author of When River Stopped Singing to Cloud and Dhakafaar, a collection of 
Somali short stories. His stories appeared both online and in print including the Water~Stone Review. Abdullahi has a BA in English Literature from U of M–Twin Cities and MA in TESOL from Hamline University. As a recipient of the 2022-2023 Loft Mirrors and Windows Fellowship, he believes in narrative power, and his writing gravitates toward social change and the immigrant experience. He lives with his wife and kids in Saint Paul.
American Composers Forum believes that music is a medium that can help us connect as humans, tell stories, and share experiences. East Side Freedom Library has long hosted study groups, partnerships, and community events that lift up the stories of its neighborhood in the name of justice. Together, we will host several cultural events and conversations examining the theme of “Immigration, Identity, and the Arts,” to amplify the voices, stories, and music of immigrant artists and community members wrestling with this theme. Included in our events will be discussion of, and inspiration from, Thi Bui’s graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do. Supported by the NEA’s Big Read project, this book aligns greatly with our theme, and resonates with so many members of our community. We are planning parallel in-person and virtual options to accommodate health and accessibility considerations. All events are free and open to the public.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. JOIN US IN PERSON OR ONLINE.
