New on Netflix: A Taiwanese Tale of Two Cities

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An Interview with “A Taiwanese Tale of Two Cities” actor Denny Huang When Denny Huang decided to move to Taipei in 2005 as a young adult, he had no idea what he was going to do. As a Taiwanese American born in Houston, he barely spoke Mandarin at the time, and when he started pursuing acting roles, he realized his American-accent would be an issue. To manage, as he was slowly building his film & TV career (with roles in TV dramas like “Bull Fighting” and “Across the Ocean to…

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Tricky Taipei Debuts Children’s Book Set in Taipei

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Kathy is a communications consultant and the writer behind Tricky Taipei. After 7 years working at design agencies VSA Partners in Chicago and Smart Design in New York, she moved back to Taipei in 2014 and now writes Tricky Taipei and hosts Tricky Talks, an event series for international professionals based in the city. In 2018, she published Hey Taipei, the first English-language picture book about Taipei. A couple of years ago I had the idea to write a cute rhyming picture book about…

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How our bodies domesticate/disaster: An Interview with Kristin Chang, Past Lives, Future Bodies

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Reading Kristin Chang’s work revives all the little things we lose: our names for nation. Yeye and his ghosts. Papaya in Taiyu meaning wood/melon. She doesn’t tackle, but instead deftly burrows into bodies of queerness, identity, immigration, and colonialism, a laundry list of tropes Chang has somehow resurrected and dissected in new, astonishing ways. I know it’s selfish and absurd to suggest a book of this artistry might have been conceived just for me, but I swear I once begged the…

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LATE LIFE: The Chien-Ming Wang Story in Theaters

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The first and only Taiwanese player for the New York Yankees, Chien-Ming Wang held many titles: American League Wins Leader, World Series Champion, Olympian, Time 100 Most Influential, and The Pride of Taiwan. He had it all--until a 2008 injury forever altered the course of his career. LATE LIFE: The Chien-Ming Wang Story--named after the late sinking action on his signature pitch--follows the rise and fall of the international icon as he fights his way back into the Major Leagues through endless…

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An Interview with Emily X.R. Pan, The Astonishing Color of After

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Editor's Note: I'm so thrilled to share this interview with Emily X.R. Pan, author of The Astonishing Color of After. In the past decade - really, in my own little lifetime -  I have seen contemporary Asian American literature evolve from brittle myths of otherness to richer montages spanning history, identity, self, and heritage. Pan's The Astonishing Color of After is a pulsing tide of grief and wonder, chronicling half-Taiwanese protagonist Leigh's struggle to understand her mother's…

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An Interview with Eva Lou, Madeleine Editions

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Editor's Note: Something we consider often is how language informs how we define and experience an ethnic or national identity. We wonder about the merits of raising bilingual, or even trilingual, children, and whether our mother tongues will ever find a place in communities that do not recognize them. Our contributors have discussed loss and mourning of such languages, but also learning and discovery. With language as vehicles in mind, Taiwanese American writer Eva Lou launched Madeleine Editions,…

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Balancing the Trifecta: Growing up Taiwanese, Korean, and American

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  There are 27 picture frames on the wall next to our staircase, each chronicling flashes of the life I know. Pictures of my mom and dad on a vacation to Italy while they were dating, pictures of my brother and me in Mexico, pictures of my brother as a toddler in a pumpkin patch. Pictures of my grandpa’s 60th birthday party, of my parents playing golf with their friends, of my late grandfather with my cousins, of my brother and me sitting on a swing set in Korea. My parents immigrated…

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Taiwanese American Film Festival in Seattle

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org is proud to be a Bronze Sponsor of this film festival featuring 7 critically-acclaimed feature-length films; 5 inspiring shorts; 2 award-winning directors from Taiwan; AR/VR experience. The Seattle chapter of Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP) is proud to host the first Seattle Taiwanese American Film Festival on Friday June 29 - Sunday July 1, 2018, at University of Washington and SIFF Uptown Cinema. The first of its kind, the Seattle Taiwanese American Film Festival,…

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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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