photo by Richard Beban
When she was a little girl, Clara wanted to be a hermit and martial artist
living in the mountains of China. Life's mysterious path took her to the
United States. In this reality, she practices the art of multi-dimensional
being: mother, musician, philanthropist, activist, purveyor of Clarion Music
Center (a world music shop of exotic musical instruments), traveler, and poet.
Clara was a nominee for the Pushcart Prize in poetry (2001). Her first book of
poems, Mystique, received honorable mention at the 2010 San Francisco Book
Festival. Some of her poems can be found in the Homestead Review, the North
Coast Review, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, and the internet journal
Red River Review. Her poem on censorship was published in 2003 by the North
American Folk Music and Dance Alliance.
Clara gives feature readings at various Bay Area venues and benefit events, but
her home is the Sacred Grounds Café (Hayes and Cole), where poetry reading
happens every Wednesday night.
In December 2005, Clara sold her music business of 23 years to focus on
her art and her unusual performance ensemble Lunation, which combines Chinese
and original poetry with Asian traditional instruments. She is also developing
the concept of the Poetry Hotel, organizing free social activities for the poets
community in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Currently, Clara is actively seeking a literary agent for her completed memoir,
"The Painted Skin". It is the story of a motherless girl and her piano-maker father.
Music, which begins as their bond and solace, becomes duty and ultimately a shackle.
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copyright © Clara Hsu, 2010
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