For this author chat, we sit down with Susie Luo to talk about her debut novel Paper Names, a decades spanning tale of a Chinese immigrant trying to build a new life in America, his Chinese American daughter looking for her place in her parent’s American dream, and a privileged white lawyer trying to rise above his family’s shady past, who are brought together by an unexpected act of violence and heroism in the streets of New York City. We chat with Susie about her inspirations for her novel, as well as her journey to becoming a writer after working in law and finance.
On this episode we discuss our June 2023 book club pick, We Have Always Been Hereby Lena Nguyen.A Sci-Fi psychological thriller following Dr. Grace Park, a psychologist who hates people, serving on a spaceship that has been dispatched to the planet Eos for a colonization inspection, but as the members of her crew begin to succumb to a mysterious psychological contagion, Dr. Park has to step out of her comfort zone to figure out the dark secrets of the planet in order to get out alive.
On our mid-month check in for June 2023, we review the latest Asian American book and publishing announcements, while Reera catches Marvin up with the latest tea from Asian book twitter.
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
The Night Ends with Fire by K.X. Song
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai
Momo by Ranran Zhou
If Lin Can by Richard Ho; illust. by Huỳnh Kim Liên and Phùng Nguyên Quan
Wish I Was a Baller by Amar Shah; illust. Rashad Doucet
This Is How You Fall in Love by Anika Hussain
The Lotus Shoes by Jane Yang
Last Chance Academy series by Debbi Michiko Florence
My Olive Tree by Hazar Elbayya
The Last Dragon of the East by Katrina Kwan
A Sky for the Birds by Rina Singh; illust. by Barkha Lohia
The Beasts Beneath the Winds edited by Hanna Alkaf
Simone by Viet Thanh Nguyen; illust. Minne Phan
Threads by Ashley Wong
Sophia Lee Can Fly by Marie Tang; illust. by Lenny Wen
For this author chat, we talk to Uzma Jalaluddin about her latest contemporary romance Much Ado about Nada, a contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion taking place in a Muslim convention in Toronto. We chat with Uzma about her love of Austen, her background as an English teacher, and more!
For this author chat, we sit down with Rita Chang-Eppig about her debut novel Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea, a historical fiction novel painting a portrait of legendary (and real life) Chinese pirate queen Shek Yeung who ruled the South China Seas in the early 19th century. We chat with Rita about her inspirations for the story as well as her own journey as an author.
One of the cool parts of being in podcasting is taking part in a community of like-minded creators, this is especially true for those of us in the Asian American podcasting space. That’s why we’re always excited to find new shows that explore the Asian American experience through new and interesting lenses.
Ten Thousand Things is a podcast from KUOW Seattle about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life, hosted by award-winning poet and museologist Shin Yu Pai. We’re excited to share their episode “Book” with Chinese American author and scholar Shawn Wong.
Shawn Wong discovered the first Japanese American novel, No-No Boy, at a used bookstore for 50 cents, after being told by his English professors that Asian American literature didn’t exist.
He sought out the author, John Okada, and he fought to have the book republished and distributed far and wide, to unearth the legacy of Asian American writers. But all the mainstream publishers rejected it. So Shawn started to print, distribute, and sell the novel himself with friends,often from the trunk of his car.
The Asian American community turned up, ordering books by mail, telling their friends, and sending checks with handwritten letters- a testament to a generation hungry for their own stories.
Correction, 10:30 a.m., 6/6/2023: The audio version of this story misstates the name of the protagonist in No-No Boy. The character’s name is Ichiro Yamada.
Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.
Books & Boba 