Real You Mandarin: Angela Lin on Empowering American-born Mandarin Speakers to have Adult Conversations

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Real You Mandarin is an online language course created by Taiwanese American and Taiwanese co-founders Angela Lin and Jane Liu. Angela is Taiwanese American, with extensive language learning experience across multiple languages and learning techniques. As creator and co-host of the But Where Are You Really From? Podcast, she has spent years discussing the unique cultural and identity challenges faced by Asian Americans, and brings that exploration as inspiration for this course. Jane, a…

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Author Q&A: Kara H.L. Chen and “Love & Resistance,” “Asking for a Friend”

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We're so honored to share this interview between two of our literary champions. Tiffany is a Taiwanese American book blogger and co-founder of Subtle Asian Book Club (SABC), an international book club with 15,000+ members dedicated to amplifying Asian storytellers. She is a passionate advocate for the accessibility and readership of Asian American literature and uses her platform to combat anti-AAPI hate and support the flourishing of Asian communities worldwide. We knew she would facilitate an astute…

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Author Q&A: Yi Shun Lai and “A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic”

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I was so pleased to read an advance copy of Yi Shun Lai's forthcoming A SUFFRAGIST'S GUIDE TO THE ANTARCTIC, a young adult novel constructed as the diary entries of Clara Ketterling-Dunbar, who has somehow maneuvered her way into an otherwise all-male Antarctic expedition. None of the other crew members know the full truth about Clara: that she is just eighteen and American, or that she'd been an outspoken suffragist with the Women's Social & Political Union. Still, they are wary of her,…

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Forms of Expression: An Interview with Artist Jocelyn Tsaih

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There’s a good chance you’ve seen artist Jocelyn Tsaih’s work already– her signature cloud-like, amorphous, faceless figurines have been seen as article illustrations for the New York Times, on the cover of slant’d Magazine, and as murals in Hollywood, SF MoMA, and NYC’s Spotify office. If you’ve ever eaten at Mama Liang’s in the SF/Bay area, you may have noticed her subtle illustrations on their Taiwanese noodles-to-go packaging! After I discovered Tsaih’s work, I began…

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How she built this: sophomore Taliyah Huang invents a Taiwanese-English translation tool to bridge language gaps

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Taiwanese American Taliyah Huang is an engineering student who has built a suite of programs, including BobaWay, a web-based Taiwanese translator. We were excited to interview her about the project and her broader passions.  Hi Taliyah! Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?  My name is Taliyah Huang, and I am a sophomore student studying biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. My parents immigrated from Taiwan, but I was born and raised in…

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A Girl Worth Rooting For: Meet Holly-Mei Jones

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Synopsis: Packed with humor and heart, this debut middle grade series follows a girl finding her place in a brand-new world of private school and frenemies when her family moves to Hong Kong. Taiwanese Canadian Holly-Mei Jones couldn’t be more excited about moving to Hong Kong for her mother’s job. Her new school is right on the beach and her family’s apartment is beyond beautiful. Everything is going to be perfect . . . right? Maybe not. It feels like everywhere she turns, there…

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Podcasts & Poetry: Cynthia Lin (TW Diaspora) Interviews Shin Yu Pai

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  I’m thrilled Leona connected me with Shin Yu Pai for this written Q&A piece for TaiwaneseAmerican.org centered on her work as an artist, writer, and podcast host. As two podcasters, Shin Yu and I naturally gravitated to talking live after the initial Q&A. I found our conversation to be soul-enriching for those consciously on a healing journey. To listen to the audio interview, check out the podcast episode on TaiwaneseDiaspora.com (available on all major podcast apps). Shin…

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“Until The Sun Rises”: Q&A with Artist & Curator Vanessa Chen

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Vanessa Chen (陳詠昕) was born and raised in Taipei. Currently finishing up the last stretch of grad school (MFA Social Practice) in D.C., she is a curator/artist who uses art as a form of advocacy and to influence policy change. Outside of art school, she is a human rights advocate and a multilingual translator for refugees, asylum seekers, victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, and many more who are experiencing crises.  We're pleased to share this Q&A with Vanessa on her…

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This is why you must read “THIS IS NOT MY HOME”

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An Interview with Best Friends Eugenia Yoh and Vivienne Chang, and a Review of Their Debut Picture Book This is a totally unbiased review of the greatest debut picture book I’ve ever read. The first time I read This Is Not My Home was, indeed, not at my home—rather, it was at a publishing house. For context, this publishing house was supposed to be a new home for not only myself, but also Eugenia, for we were both newish hires at the time. At the time, the publishing house still felt…

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“How We Say I Love You”: Nicole Chen on her picture book & middle grade debuts

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Author Nicole Chen (photo credit to Sarah Deragon) "How We Say I Love You," with illustrations by Lenny Wen, features a Taiwanese American girl who shares how her family expresses their love for one another through actions rather than words. If "How We Say I Love You" is, as Nicole Chen writes, "the story of [her] heart," then Chen is an author and storyteller of our own Taiwanese American heart. Raised in the Bay Area, the author blends her experience of growing up Taiwanese American with…

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