A collaboration between Shoes Off Nashville, API Middle Tennessee, and the Nashville AAPI Writers featuring music, storytelling, & crafted dishes. Inspired by tradition, this unique concert experience fuses live music, spoken word, and crafted dishes from various, locally and Asian-owned businesses in Nashville. The Mid-Autumn Festival is an annual tradition observed in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand (among other countries) to celebrate the end of the fall harvest.
​
All are welcome to join us in gratitude, celebration, inclusivity, and education, either as a member of Nashville’s Asian community or an ally interested in learning more about history and the community today. There will be musical performances by Lisa Goe, Elissa Sun, Tyler Kohrs, and Andrei, as well as readings by local writers Sarong Vit-Kory, Sheba Karim, and Malaka Gharib. Attendees will also be given complimentary copies of special booklets that will include 6 short written pieces by other Nashville AAPI writers.
Musical Performances by
Andrei
Originating from Hong Kong, Andrei has been gracing Nashville with his heartfelt country melodies for over a decade. Seamlessly blending two musical worlds, he has crafted a unique sound that resonates locally and beyond. His soulful voice and genuine lyrics have firmly established him in both the local and international music scenes, proving that exceptional country music transcends geographical boundaries.
Ellisa Sun
Ellisa Sun, a force on stage, left her heart on the road during her nationwide Dreamboat tour in 2018, covering 170 shows in a year. Relocating to Nashville after her journey, her music is a textured fusion of R&B, soul, jazz, and bossa nova, resonating with raw emotion. Her tracks found their way onto screens via shows like "L.A.'s Finest," "Dollface," and "Kung Fu." An adept crowdfunder, Ellisa raised $15,000 for her upcoming record, featuring Nashville's finest talents. Her journey continues, an artist unafraid to pour her soul into her art.
Lisa Goe
A prolific songwriter, Lisa Goe boasts an impressive portfolio including credits for artists like Justin Bieber and Jordin Sparks. Her music draws from a diverse range of influences, grounded in her personal experiences and emotions. Writing has become her sanctuary for unfiltered expression. Born into a musical family in LA, Lisa's connection with music flourished early on. She's been on stage since the age of four and later honed her skills in Chicago and LA before settling in Nashville. In 2016, she co-founded Popoff Nashville, a movement that celebrates the city's pop music scene. Lisa's journey underscores the city's eclectic musical spirit, disproving the notion that Nashville is solely about country music.
Tyler Kohrs
​Tyler Kohrs, hailing from South Korea, is a preschool teacher by day and a dedicated country artist by night. His journey gained prominence on Season 20 of "The Voice." His rendition of "More Hearts Than Mine" resonated across the Netherlands, becoming a top 50 hit on country radio. His original piece, "You Broke Me," earned spots on notable playlists. Tyler's unyielding passion and melodic prowess continue to drive his momentum forward.
Storytelling from
Sarong Vit-Kory
Sarong has always enjoyed writing in her life. Until early last year before she enrolled in a writing course with The Porch, Sarong’s writing was mainly in the academia and professional world. After completing an MA in a degree program called Sustainable International Development, she left Nashville to spend a total of five years living in Cambodia, her parent’s homeland. There, she worked with a nongovernmental organization to reduce poverty in the country. Today, Sarong writes consistently in a memoir to narrate not only the profound learning experience from this period of her life but to also honor the legacy of her Cambodian immigrant parents.
Malaka Gharib
Malaka is the author of "I Was Their American Dream," a graphic memoir published in 2019 about being first-generation Filipino Egyptian American, which won an Arab American Book Award in 2020. Then in 2022, she published "It Won't Always Be Like This," a graphic memoir about her summers in the Middle East. By day, she works as a digital editor at NPR for Life Kit, a lifestyle podcast about health, finance, relationships and more. Her comics and writing have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Catapult, The Believer Magazine and The New Yorker. She has been profiled in The Washington Post and The New York Times. Some of her comics and zines are archived at the Smithsonian Institution, the New York Public Library, the Arab American Museum and Barnard College’s Zine Library. She lives in Nashville, Tenn., with her husband, son and Shiba Inu.
Sheba Karim
Sheba's fiction and essays have been featured in 580 Split, Asia Literary Review, India Today, Literary Hub, Off Assignment, Sewanee Review, Shenandoah, South Asian Review, The Rumpus, Time Out Delhi and in several anthologies in the United States and India. She's written four YA novels: Skunk Girl, That Thing We Call a Heart, which made several Best Book lists including Bank Street and Kirkus, Mariam Sharma Hits the Road, a NPR Best Book of the Year, and The Marvelous Mirza Girls, winner of the South Asia Book Award. She is the editor of Alchemy: The Tranquebar Book of Erotic Stories II. She lives in Nashville with her family and is a Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University.
Sponsored by
