The Night Parade: Book Launch & Celebration of Arts and Culture

October 28 · 4 - 7pm CDT

Join us for The Night Parade of Arts and Culture, a family-friendly festival celebrating the launch of Jami and Cori’s book The Night Parade (Mariner/HarperCollins). This event will feature food, music, taiko drumming, art, activity stations, bon odori dancing, and more! Jami will give a brief reading from the book and Cori’s art will be on display. Bento boxes are available for pre-order purchase, and there will also be some complimentary snacks.

This is a costume party, so dress up as your favorite yо̄kai or other monster/spirit/creature from folklore. We will be having videography and a photo booth so dress your best!

To protect our community, especially our elders and the immunocompromised, masks will be required at this event when not eating/drinking/taking photos. We will have some masks at check-in!

This is an event deeply rooted in our Japanese, Taiwanese, and Okinawan American cultural communities and we are so excited to celebrate with all of you!

FOOD & BOOK ORDERING

BOOKS: Because the cargo container the books are on was delayed at sea, the book is now being released two weeks late, on November 7th. However, we are getting a special shipment of books to sell early at this event! If you'd like to preorder a copy of The Night Parade to pick up at the event, you can purchase directly from our bookstore partner, Women and Children First, and please note in the order comments that you will pick the book up at the event.

Book Pre-order here

Due to capacity and logistical complications, we will be unable to sign books at the party. We are happy to sign books at our other events, or anywhere you happen to see us in the future!

FOOD: Mom’s Chicago (Japanese American food) and 2D Restaurant (Taiwanese American food) are providing meals to purchase! Food must be pre-ordered in advance: Buy a food ticket and a GA ticket when you check-out on this eventbrite. Food orders close on 10/18. We're sorry, the eventbrite fees were unavoidable :( There will also be some complimentary snacks at the event!

One of the highlights of the event will be when friends from Ho Etsu Taiko and Nikkei Uprising teach us the bon odori community dance called Ei Ja Nai Ka (PJ Hirabayashi). This dance contains movements based on the experiences of the Japanese American community through the decades. By performing this dance together, to the taiko drumming performed by Ho Etsu, we hope to recreate the Night Parade itself. As a group of people dressed as yо̄kai and other creatures of all backgrounds, uniting together, we claim and transform our own stories.

This event is funded in-part by the Illinois Arts Council, sponsored by the UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center and Global Asian Studies Department, and supported by members of Next Generation Nikkei, Nikkei Uprising, Ho Etsu Taiko, Japanese American Service Center, Chicago Okinawan Kenjinkai, Taiwanese American Foundation, Japanese American Citizens League, and Look With Your Mouth.

CELEBRATE WITH US!