Maine Lit Fest Event - Day 6
Hear author Phuc Tran read from his award-winning memoir Sigh, Gone while listening to the music that inspired his writing. Watch and listen to the dynamic Tanuja Desai Hidier, award-winning songwriter and author, perform a reading and share audio/visual pieces. And relish in the power that is Signature Soul, the spoken word, eclectic hip-hop duo, also known as Marco Soulo and Signature MiMi.
This event is co-hosted by Tender Table, a group that celebrates Black and Brown community through storytelling and food. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for sale thanks to co-sponsors The Public Works and Kit NA. Food will also be available for purchase.
This event is free.
Books will be sold by Kelly’s Books to Go.
Phuc Tran was born in Sài Gòn Việt Nam, his family fled to America in 1975, and he grew up in Carlisle, PA. Reared on a steady diet of Saturday morning cartoons, John Hughes, Star Wars, Bones Brigade videos, and bootlegged cassettes of Minor Threat and TSOL, Phuc graduated high school in 1991. He majored in Classical Languages and Literature at Bard College—how did no one talk him out of that?—got his Master’s Degree at University of Massachusetts Amherst, and then moved to New York City in 1997. There he apprenticed to be a tattooer while teaching Latin during the day, and he has been teaching and tattooing ever since. He’s never been good at staying in one lane—just ask his wife about his driving.
Following in the footsteps of E.B. White (who was neither a tattooer nor Latin teacher), Phuc and his wife left the city and moved to Maine in 2003 (she’s an honest-to-goodness Mainer) where they opened their shop, Tsunami Tattoo.
In 2012, he delivered a TEDx talk which was highlighted by NPR’s TED Radio Hour. The TEDx talk and its reception planted a seed in Phuc for sharing more of his story as a refugee (of which he’d shared very little). He embarked on writing his memoir in 2016, and in April 2020 Sigh, Gone was published by Flatiron Books.
After a Bombay babyhood and Wilbraham, Mass childhood (home of Friendly’s ice cream!), Boston-born author/singer-songwriter Tanuja Desai Hidier moved to NYC where she interned at The Paris Review, hostessed at a Tex-Mex restaurant, secretaried for the Whitney Museum’s Film & Video Department, walked a moody saluki (who once escaped and sent her on a 100mph Central Park chase), co-hosted streaming music program DesiVibe (til the Internet bubble popped), anchored an Indian news show (mispronouncing key headline words), party-promoted, copyedited/wrote for teen mags (“Quiz: Is He Really That Into You?”), sobbed into her pillow, laughed until she fell over, danced like no one was watching (and likely no one was), wrote/directed/festival-ated short film “The Test”, and front-woman’d punk-pop band io, regularly gigging at CBGBs, Mercury Lounge, the Elbow Room, and Bitter End—i.e, she assiduously avoided writing a novel (trans-Atlantically, too, for a year in Paris).
It was only when she moved to London for a couple years (which turned into 17, during which time she birthed daughters with British accents) that the tale of protagonist Dimple Lala grew clear. Born Confused, Tanuja’s pioneering debut, considered to be the first South Asian American YA novel, was written largely from a Portobello Road flat overlooking the fruit/veg stalls, Intoxica Records, and a betting joint.
Tanuja has also made two albums of original songs based on Born Confused and the award-winning sequel Bombay Blues. She recently wrote the foreword to Untold: Defining Moments of the Uprooted, a nonfiction anthology featuring 31 new Brown womxn writers. Her piece, Sooji, Sakar, Badam, Ghee, was this August included in Pen America’s India At 75 anthology, a historic collection by authors from India/the Indian diaspora reflecting on India’s 75th year of Independence. Motherland, her prose poem in honor of her mother, can be found in Moonglade, in the current issue of Amjambo Africa.
She is now based in Maine, where she serves on the Board of Directors of The Telling Room.
SIGNATURE SOUL IS A FUSION OF RHYTHM + RHYME + REASON + RESONANCE MADE UP OF AN ECLECTIC HIP HOP + SPOKEN WORD DUO
Michelle “Signature MiMi” Tarshus is a poetic being, creative expressionista and nomadic sorcerer. One half of the eclectic duo Signature Soul, MiMi and partner Marco Soulo are dedicated to raising the collective consciousness one soul at a time through the power of creative expression and the art of collaboration. Together they facilitate expression labs, concentrated writing workshops and monthly Share & Speak gatherings. They offer consulting services and facilitate dialogues and community conversations. They share original poetry and music to uplift and inspire communities and to provoke action towards a life-sustaining world full of creativity and synergy. Mimi pursued a Masters in Library Information Science with a focus on School Media and Collaboration. She is a proud Alum of the poetry program Verbal Blend and a Co-Founder of Nu Rho Poetic Society (est. 2011). These are two groups she credits with empowering her to find her voice and share it with others. In 2014, MiMi released her first project: “Only Poetry Could Have Brought Me Here” – an EP of spoken word pieces that reflect on MiMi’s early journey. MiMi has been featured on countless stages and has opened up for incredible poets including: members of The Strivers Row, Shihan, and Saul Williams. Currently cultivating creative juices and justice in the northeast, MiMi uses her voice and gifts to empower others, especially youth. To connect – please visit www.signaturesoul.love.
Marco Soulo
AFRO-CARIBBEAN | ATLANTA RAISED
a blend of bounce, beats, & #bars
i experiment, learn, and share
my creative expressions
to uplift, inspire, and provoke action
within fellow beings