Featured Stories

Register for Taiwanese American Youth Summer Camps

If you’re unfamiliar with the many non-profit Taiwanese American community organizations that host these excellent home-away-from-home youth summer camps, be sure to explore the links below. One thing you’ll consistently hear from the participants is how much an experience like this changed their lives. For those new to the summer conference and camp scene, know that we at TaiwaneseAmerican.org endorse all of the listed programs. They all have talented and committed counselors and staff…

GREEN ISLAND Author Shawna Yang Ryan on Tour

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…

The 2017 Taiwanese American Scholarship

The Taiwanese American community is often seen as a privileged one, so we’re happy to see that this project of the Asian Pacific Community Fund is targeted towards those youth who need a little helping hand to further their educational opportunities. The 2017 Taiwanese American Scholarship Fund (TASF) is focused on helping economically-challenged Taiwanese American youth fulfill their dreams of obtaining higher education. Through a competitive application process, the funds are applied toward…

Beyond the Amy Tan Questions: Why a Millennial TA Anthology

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…

To Find Your Place in the World – by Kelly Tsai

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.…

Rally for UN Membership for Taiwan

“Growing up, my parents always told me that I’m Taiwanese, and to never let anyone tell me otherwise. As I grew older, I started to learn more about the complications of Taiwan and our Taiwanese identities. As a Taiwanese American, I’m always striving to protect my Taiwanese American identity - an identity that I cherish - and by doing so, I became more active in protecting Taiwan and helping to promote Taiwan in the international community.” For more than 20+ years, the Taiwanese…

Checking in with Dawen (王大文)

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…

Priska Working on Debut EP

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,…

Through the Glass Ceiling: A Contemporary Ballet Collaboration

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…

The Lintet: A Taiwanese American Trombonist Shows That Jazz Has No Boundaries

Taiwanese American trombonist Peter Lin talks to us about his jazz band The Lintet, how the Taiwanese community has shaped his life, the importance of connecting to the audience and community and being true to oneself—and why he incorporates Taiwanese folk songs into their repertoire. Talk a little bit about The Lintet. How did you start? The Lintet is a band led by yours truly for the past four years; dedicated towards providing quality jazz and soul music for all communities. I often…