Your New Classic Slow Jam: Music by Jerry Jean

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Jerry Jean is an NYC-based Taiwanese American songwriter, producer, and musician who has been creating some beautiful compositions and music videos on YouTube for several years. I was drawn to his most recent video for his soul-inspiring original song, Do We Reach Home, featuring a captivating dance performance by Chloe Noelle Crade. Directed by José Andrés Cardona, the video showcases Jerry's solid vocal talent, authenticity, and aspirational spirit. In all of his works, his emotion-driven…

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GREEN ISLAND Author Shawna Yang Ryan on Tour

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SHAWNA YANG RYAN is a former Fulbright scholar and the author of the novel GREEN ISLAND, a stunning story of love, betrayal, and family, set against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan over the course of the twentieth century. She authored a previous novel, Water Ghosts, and teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Her short fiction has appeared in ZYZZYVA, The Asian American Literary Review, Kartika Review, and The Berkeley Fiction Review. We've been…

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Beyond the Amy Tan Questions: Why a Millennial TA Anthology

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I call them the “Amy Tan Questions.” Questions like “how do families relate in context of war, distance, and famine?” or “how does a child reconcile the old world of their parents with the new world America in which they live?”. These questions are important, for they are our foundation as a community and give us vignettes of Asian and Asian American history that American public schools neglected. But they are dated, and they are not our stories. I wanted to see writing that moved…

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To Find Your Place in the World – by Kelly Tsai

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Performance poet Kelly Tsai shares this inspiring video poetry message dedicated to the 800K+ people who have served with AmeriCorps and the millions more who work every day to improve communities across the country. Kelly is an AmeriCorps Public Allies Alum, and this is a collaboration between her and fellow Americorps VISTA Alum, Ryan Hartley Smith. They based the characters and stories in the short on their own experiences and also those of dozens from across the country. Check it out.…

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Author Ed Lin on Tour with New Taiwan-based Novel Incensed

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We love smartly-written mystery capers, especially those from the mind of author Ed Lin, who is of Taiwanese and Chinese descent. We completely appreciate that this one is set (yet again) in the night markets of Taiwan! Ed Lin's latest novel, Incensed, has just been released, and he's also on tour to promote and read from the book. Ed Lin, a journalist by training, is the author of several other books: Waylaid, his literary debut, and his Robert Chow crime series, set in 1970s Manhattan Chinatown:…

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The Slants go to Taiwan for new music video!

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The Slants—the world's first and only all Asian American dance rock band—filmed their new music video "Heartbeat is Heaven" during a long-awaited tour to Taiwan, where they also performed at Taiwan's legendary outdoor music festival Spring Scream! The Slants have been featured on Conan O'Brien, NPR, BBC, CBS, TIME, and 1500+ radio stations, tv shows, magazines and websites in over 80+ countries. Check out thoughts on their Taiwan adventures below! How did everyone get involved with The…

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Checking in with Dawen (王大文)

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It’s an unbearably hot summer day as I trek through the streets of Taipei, eager to enter an air conditioned building. I search for Eslite Bookstore. That’s where Dawen Wang and I are meeting. The last time we chatted was some five years ago at my alma mater, UIUC. "Back when I had a shaved head and was 20lbs heavier," Dawen would tell me later, as we settled outside a coffee shop. “I was [...] really, really struggling," he reminisced, "Now, I struggle in different ways. But back then, wow…

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Q&A with Dmae Roberts, Author of The Letting Go Trilogies

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Dmae Roberts is the author of The Letting Go Trilogies: Stories of A Mixed-Race Family. TaiwaneseAmerican.org's editorial director Anna Wu chatted briefly with Dmae about the powerful, beautifully vulnerable memoirs. * * * Anna Wu: Hi Dmae. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. Could you tell us a little bit about the process of writing these memoirs? How did you come to structure the book as a series of trilogies? Dmae Roberts: Through the decades, I've written…

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Priska Working on Debut EP

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One of our favorite LA-based Taiwanese American musicians, Priska, is finally working on her debut EP. (What? She didn't have one before?). We introduced Priscilla Liang to our audiences back in 2012 with this personal interview and footage from a performance at the Factory Tea Bar in the heart of San Gabriel Valley: Revisit the 2012 Interview: http://www.taiwaneseamerican.org/2012/05/introducing-singer-songwriter-priska/ We've been a big fan of her since the beginning. She's got a beautiful,…

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Through the Glass Ceiling: A Contemporary Ballet Collaboration

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As the founder of TaiwaneseAmerican.org, I often meet really talented people in our community doing awesome work in their respective fields and industries. When my friend, ballerina and choreographer Ivy Chow, contacted me one day asking if I knew any composers of Taiwanese heritage that might collaborate with her on a new performance project about "breaking glass ceilings," I immediately thought of another friend, composer George Shaw, known for his many compositions and scores for popular YouTube…

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