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METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:187236@gayout.com
DTSTAMP:20260817T045847Z
DTSTART:20260908T190000Z
DTEND:20260908T203000Z
SUMMARY:I Have a Thing for Flowers by Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn (in convo wi
 th Diana Khoi Nguyen)
DESCRIPTION:We are grateful to host regional writer Alysia Li Ying Sawchy
 n at the Whale to celebrate her new essay collection\\, I Have a Thing fo
 r Flowers! Structured like an herbarium\\, each essay pairs a flower with
  a person from Sawchyn&#8217\\;s life to compose a delightful blend of bo
 tanical research and intimate meditations on love. Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn
  will be joined in conversation by local poet\\, multimedia artist\\, and
  educator\\, Diana Khoi Nguyen.\\nSix months before her wedding\\, Alysia
  Li Ying Sawchyn’s fiancé broke off their engagement. Stunned\\, reeli
 ng\\, and newly uninsured\\, Alysia married her friend Sarah in an arrang
 ement that secured them both free health insurance. They moved in togethe
 r in the midst of the pandemic\\, and\\, with time and while tending a ga
 rden\\, their marriage of convenience grew into a marriage of love.\\nIn 
 science\\, art\\, and mythology\\, we cannot help but to see flowers as m
 etaphors for the fleeting nature of youth\\, vitality\\, and love. It’s
  easy to casually admire something beautiful\\, but it takes a discerning
  eye to appreciate the effort that went into nourishing and tending to th
 at beauty. In both gardening and relationships\\, one cannot expect to fi
 ll your garden with flowers if you are unwilling—or unable—to put in 
 the work they need to thrive. In I Have This Thing For Flowers\\, Sawchyn
  does just that\\, likening the many flowers she has grown in her gardens
  to a range of relationships and moments of her life\\, reflecting on top
 ics from motherhood to perfumery to scientific illustration.\\nCataloguin
 g many of the great romances and loves of her life like an herbarium of f
 lowers preserved from the garden\\, Sawchyn examines the kinds of love th
 at can&#8217\\;t be explained.\\nDIANA KHOI NGUYEN is the author of Root 
 Fractures and Ghost Of\\, a finalist for the National Book Award and winn
 er of the 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. She is a recipient of a Nation
 al Endowment for the Arts fellowship\\, and her video work has been exhib
 ited at Miller ICA. A Kundiman and MacDowell fellow\\, Nguyen teaches cre
 ative writing in the MFA programs at Randolph College and the University 
 of Pittsburgh.\\nALYSIA LI YING SAWCHYN teaches in the Creative Writing P
 rogram at Bucknell University. Her essay collection A Fish Growing Lungs 
 was a finalist for The Believer Book Awards\\, and her second book\\, I H
 ave This Thing for Flowers\\, is forthcoming from Flatiron Books. Formerl
 y the editor-in-chief of The Rumpus\\, she has received fellowships from 
 The Kenyon Review Writers Workshop and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
 \\nSign up for the livestream!\\nhttps://www.gayout.com/usa-canada/united
 -states/pittsburgh/events/i-have-a-thing-for-flowers-by-alysia-li-ying-sa
 wchyn-in-convo-with-diana-khoi-nguyen--2026-09-08
LOCATION:Pittsburgh
URL:https://www.gayout.com/usa-canada/united-states/pittsburgh/events/i-have-a-thing-for-flowers-by-alysia-li-ying-sawchyn-in-convo-with-diana-khoi-nguyen--2026-09-08
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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