A-chieu: Fiction by Wiley Ho

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Even before she entered the house, I would hear A-chieu calling to whoever might be in the courtyard “Have you eaten yet?” It was a common greeting but, in Hakka, in the way A-chieu said it, it sounded more like an accusation.  A-chieu was our family cook when I was little in Taiwan. She would be a hundred today but in my memory, she is a woman in her prime, full of fire and the master of the flame. A stout woman with powerful limbs, her thick body darted impossibly fast between the sink…

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Luck Girl; Benign City: Fiction by Herbert Chang

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"Subtle, restrained, elegant. A moving, poignant reflection of youth, friendship and first love." - Judges' Remarks Grand Prize Winner, Adult Category – 2024 Betty L. Yu and Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes Luck Girl; Benign City  Summer 1989, I met Claire in my hometown Bei-Liao. But it also doesn’t matter, because I almost never tell anyone.  Memories of that day always unwind like a roll film, in third person present. I walk between rice fields. My sweaty school uniform…

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Charles Yu, Shawna Yang Ryan, Alvina Ling select 2024 Creative Writing Prize Winners

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We are pleased to announce the 2024 cohort of honorable mentions, finalists, and grand prize winners of the Betty L. Yu & Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes, established in partnership with TaiwaneseAmerican.org in honor of Yu’s parents, who are longstanding Taiwanese American community leaders. In its third year, the prize expanded to include adult writers of all life stages. Their work will be published on TaiwaneseAmerican.org throughout the year. Now in its fourth year, the prize saw…

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Gathering Taiwanese American Writers at AWP 2024: “I wish I had this community growing up.”

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On Lunar New Year’s eve, we again gathered an expanding cohort of Taiwanese American changemakers in the literary world who’d convened in Kansas City for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference (AWP). Our Year of the Dragon dinner was hosted at Chewology, led by recently James Beard semifinalist nominated-chef Katie Liu-Sung. We were touched by Katie's vision to bring Taiwan to Kansas City, where there are relatively fewer Asian Americans compared to coastal enclaves.…

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The Taiwanese Experience: The Biggest Act of My Life – Creative Nonfiction by Jamie Su

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Finalist, High School Category [Act I, Prologue]  I’ve never taken an acting class. Or been in a drama club. Or even auditioned for a play. But I am an actress. And a heck of a good one, at that.  To start, my name isn’t even Vivian. It’s Yu-Wei, but they didn’t know how to pronounce that at my kindergarten graduation. My parents brought me to court and had it legally changed a month later. They were afraid that kids at school would make fun of me.  I never told them that they…

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Charles Yu, Shawna Yang Ryan, Alvina Ling Select 2023 Creative Writing Prize Recipients

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We are pleased to announce the 2023 cohort of honorable mentions, finalists, and grand prize winners of the Betty L. Yu & Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes, established in partnership with TaiwaneseAmerican.org in honor of Yu’s parents, who are longstanding Taiwanese American community leaders. In its third year, the prize has expanded to include adult writers of all life stages. Their work will be published on TaiwaneseAmerican.org throughout the year. The Prizes are named in honor…

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