Consensual Genocide launching April 2006
 
Consensual Genocide (April 2006, TSAR Press) is the long-awaited first collection of poetry by acclaimed writer and spoken word artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Tracing bloodlines from Sri Lanka 's civil wars to Brooklyn and Toronto streets, these fierce poems are full of heart and guts, unafraid of telling raw truths about brown girl border crossings before and after 9/11, surviving abuse, mixed-race identities and femme lives. Telling the story of a young queer woman of color's coming of age amidst the fractures of her family and culture, decolonizing her spirit, body and heart, these poems tell stories we've been waiting for.

people are talking:
 
"Leah's poems make me gasp out loud. My tears fall with relief at the immediacy of her words, a relief that her voice is real, that it comes to me, cutting through the denial of the post-911 racist war machine. Thank you Leah for these beads of truth, this lifeline. To all who read this: take refuge in her words, if only for a moment. Then use her strength to help propel you towards your next act of courage, whether it's catching a bus, crossing a border, fighting back, or reaching out."
- Nomy Lamm, activist, performer and fat freaky diva

"Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's words leap off the page -- urgent, sumptuous writing that demands, and deserves, a wide audience. I'm listening."
- Anna Camilleri, author of I Am a Red Dress, editor Red Light and Brazen Femmes.

"Urgent. Beautiful. Remarkably hard and personal, Leah's writing deconstructs history, culture and family dynamics… Leah's poems will shake you out of your complacency and get you off your ass."
- Shameless magazine

In the poetry of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, there's a force that's nearly atomic. The wonder of these poems lies in their unflinching look at the trickle down effect of colonial violence, how the seeds of this violence are sown into the genes of far-flung children of the South Asian Diaspora. Leah pushes the colonizer's language to make room for her world, to recreate the history that's been denied her. 
- Bushra Rehman, co-editor Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism , queer Pakistani performance poet.

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North American Tour Dates:
Ottawa:  Sunday, April 9, 2006, SAW Gallery, 67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa ON. Cosponsored by Agitate Queer Women of Color and Mothertongue Books.
Tickets: $5-$8 sliding scale (available at the door)  Doors at 7:00 PM.

Minneapolis: April 24, 2006, The Loft, cosponsored by Diaspora/Flow. Suite 200, Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN. Juliana Pegues opening!

Chicago: CANCELLED - Chicago launch rescheduled for July, check back for date and location t.b.a.

San Francisco: Monday, May 8, Modern Times Books, 888 Valencia, San Francisco, 7:30 PM. Opening: local queer/trans of color poetic superstars Maceo Marti Cabrerra Estevez, Lamya el-Chidiac, Roopa Singh.

San Francisco: Tuesday, May 9, 2006, RADAR Reading Series, hosted by Michelle Tea. San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street, Downstairs in the Latino Reading Room. 6 PM sharp. Free! With Linda Grey Garcia (aka
Tiny), Ariel Gore and devorah major.

Boston: Thursday, May 11, Gendercrash!  Cosponsored by East Meets West Books and Centre for New Words. Spontaneous Celebrations 45 Danforth St, Jamaica Plain at 7:30pm, doors open at 7:15 pm. All Ages.

Boston: Friday, May 12, East Meets Words Asian American open mic, co-feature performance with Ching-in Chen! 8pm at the East Meets West Bookstore, 934 Mass Ave, Cambridge. $3 admission // all ages welcome // come early to sign up for the open mic!

New York: Monday, May 15, Bluestockings Bookstore, 7 PM, 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington. Bushra Rehman and Marian Yalini Thambynayagam opening! Jamie Munkatchy of Booklyn speaking on the process
of moving from self-publishing to small-press publishing! Cosponsored by Kundiman Asian American Poets

New York, May 19-21, 2006: M I X E D M E S S A G E S, Marymount Manhattan College 221 East 71st Street
South Asian Women's Creative Collective (SAWCC)'s annual literary festival celebrating South Asian writing crossing boundaries. Check their website for times- www.sawcc.org

Colombo , Sri Lanka , May 26, 2006 Equal Ground Colombo Pride