An Interview with Juliana and Wayne, Co-directors of the Piedmont Chamber Music Festival

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Pianist Juliana Han and violinist Wayne Lee are the husband and wife co-directors of the Piedmont Chamber Music Festival in the Bay Area, California. Our editorial director Anna Wu caught up with them to chat about the festival, the Formosa Quartet, and their journeys as musicians. * * * Anna Wu: Hi Juliana and Wayne! Thanks for joining us today. Could you guys tell us a little bit about the Piedmont Chamber Music Festival? What inspired you to start it? Wayne Lee: The Piedmont Chamber…

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50 Books for Your Taiwanese American Library

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During the second full week of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month each May, we proudly recognize and celebrate Taiwanese American Heritage Week! In the past decade, more than a handful of authors, writers, creatives, and poets have emerged to write the many stories of our patchwork community into being. Below, we have compiled a list of nearly 50 titles from this talented pool. Many of the authors themselves are Taiwanese Americans or have ties to Taiwan. Some of these books have Taiwanese…

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An Interview with Cynthia Cheng, the Co-Organizer of Family Style Zine: An AAPI Food Anthology

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  Our own Andrea “Chuey” Chu, co-editor of TaiwaneseAmerican.org and Chrysanthemum: Voices of the Taiwanese Diaspora, interviews Cynthia Cheng, co-organizer of Family Style Zine and contributor for Chrysanthemum. Family Style Zine: An AAPI Food Anthology is an anthology promoting education on the diverse histories of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) food. The zine features illustration and writings from 31 AAPI creators sharing the stories behind 20 dishes that shed light on the…

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An Interview with Filmmaker Fiona Roan: Reflections on Sisterhood and Belonging

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Fiona Feng-I Roan is a Taiwanese American writer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Ho Chie Tsai recently caught up with her to talk about her new short film, JIEJIE, which was recently selected as one of three finalists in the HBO Asian Pacific Visionary American short film competition. It will also be distributed nationally through HBO this May, during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. JIEJIE is a portrait of young sisters being raised by a single immigrant…

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Taiwan Films at CAAMFest 2018

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org is pleased to support the premier Asian American Film Festival in the San Francisco/Bay Area. CAAM Fest, the Center for Asian American Media’s annual festival features not only amazing works in film, TV, and digital media, but now also includes showcases in music and food. This year, their events and screenings are scheduled all throughout May to coincide with Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. We proudly co-present both a feature film about groundbreaking Taiwanese…

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The Life Story: An Interview with Author Julia Lin

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We recently came across Taiwanese Canadian author Julia Lin’s recently published book, Shadows of the Crimson Sun: One Man’s Life in Manchuria, Taiwan, and North America. This biography of Dr. Charles Yang, a community leader and activist living in Vancouver, Canada, caught our attention because of the unique formative experiences that shaped his perspectives and life of activism. At the same time, his story echoed many of the experiences of the first generation Taiwanese who immigrated throughout…

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Chris Pang: Upcoming Crazy Rich Asian and Certified Haiku Hottie

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When actor Chris Pang was a kid growing up in Melbourne, Australia, he remembers he and his mother would act out wuxia stories in their backyard. His mom would be the Grandmaster, and he would be her student, but inevitably then the bad guys would poison the Grandmaster, and he'd have to fight to avenge her. "I loved that," he says. "That's probably how I learned how to tell stories, not just on the page but through action and role-play." Pang, who will soon be seen in the highly-anticipated…

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For the (Re)Cord: An Interview with Leona Chen

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1050"] Book of Cord coverage in World Journal, article by Emily Lin, book photography by Tinfish Press, family portrait by Andy Kuno[/caption] Leona Chen is the author of Book of Cord, her debut poetry collection from Tinfish Press. The poems tackle family, culture, language, migration and history in a non-prescriptive way, relying instead on emotions embedded in precise, culturally coded details--quotidian (but not ordinary) objects such as tiger balm,…

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Grateful for Family & Friends #TaiwaneseThanksgiving

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WE'RE GRATEFUL FOR YOU! And for what our Taiwanese American heritage and culture have given us... especially how it influences our American holiday traditions and food experiences. We asked for your photos showing how you celebrate #TaiwaneseThanksgiving, and we were impressed! Check out some of the submissions below. #TaiwaneseThanksgiving This American holiday is all about spending time with and appreciating family, and when you get together, you've got to take a photo... It's a given…

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Harvest Moons and Autumn Flowers

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"I don’t know how the moon looked where you were last night, but from the curb where I stood, a few paces away from the auto repair shop and the two men tamping down the embers of their barbecue, the moon was round and luminous and haunting, and it glowed even through the quick-flitting clouds. Last night’s moon-gazing was for the Mid-Autumn Festival. That means it’s fully autumn, and it’s time to unveil a project I’ve been working on for the past year." About 12 hours after Kevin…

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