AANHPI & APIDA Heritage Month
May is Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Desi Heritage Month. Celebrating and honoring the beautiful diaspora, I will be highlighting wonderful local creatives and artisans. Learning and connecting can help support and uplift our community.
Tasha Jun, writer & author of Tell Me the Dream Again.
Meet Tasha Jun, a bi-racial Korean American melancholy dreamer who grew up in a multicultural and biracial home. She is a beautiful writer and author. Tasha also mentors WOC/POC writers who are new in their writing and publishing journey.
Whenever Tasha writes, she tries to show up as her whole self. Her upbringing with an immigrant mother who carried much of her own Korean culture into all the ways she fed and raised Tasha, inspires and flows into what I write, whether it’s a poem, article, or story.
Tasha’s immigrant mother who fed and raised her with their Korean culture inspires and flows into her writing. Eating with people she loves, travel, and seeing others embrace their whole selves, particularly their ethnic identity, brings Tasha joy. Her family has started celebrating Chuseok and Lunar New Year which Tasha treasures as it is a way to connect with her heritage together. Tasha’s favorite food is all of her mom’s Korean cooking.
Tasha, as a young kid, would journal and process things in her life through written word. It helped her stay connected to herself. In 2023, Tasha’s debut book, Tell Me The Dream Again was published. This is one of her favorite creations.
Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea.
Advice she has for aspiring writers: “I think it’s important to know that we can be and are writers whether we are published or not. Being a writer is something that involves inner work and a way of seeing and being in the world and that is something of immense value that can be received and nurtured. It’s something we can own before we look for it from others.”
Tasha hopes to see more communal support in writing and literary communities. Through her own writing experience, she shares “I’ve found that some readers assume that writing about race, cultural identity, and ethnicity, means one shouldn’t include faith, they can’t include stories about race, ethnicity, or cultural identity. Writing as a whole person and as genuinely as possible has led to the discovery of these boundary lines in literary and writing communities and it’s been difficult and disheartening to navigate. That said, as always, I’d love to see more highlighting, support, and promotion for diverse stories, writers of color, and not just certain kinds of writers of color or the same few over and over again (as if it’s a box to be checked off and not an area to keep expanding in forever for the sake and betterment of ALL of us)”.
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Tasha, Fishers resident, highlights what she hopes to see more of in the local community. “I’d love to see more city-supported programs investing in emerging writers and especially emerging BIPOC writers. I’d love to see author events come in more than one or two shades but reflect the color of our continually diversifying communities. I’d love to see diverse stories being sought out and supported. When I see anything written about our cities, I want to see a diverse population reflected in words and images – not only to reflect who is actually here, but also who we want to welcome and become.”
May 18th, from 1-3pm, Tasha will be at the Author Meet & Greet at Barnes & Noble River Crossing!
Tasha Jun, author Meet and Greet.
Tasha was recently on Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong. She spoke about writing honestly, her novel, and more.
Follow for updates and to support Tasha:
Instagram: @tashajunb
Websites:
https://shalomsick.substack.com