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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Atlantic Menhaden: Fiction by Nicholas Servedio

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Honorable Mention, Adult Category The first time I saw all the dead fish was in early June. It was a rainy day, and my dad and I were walking along the Hudson River Greenway. The path was sandwiched between the flow of the river and the flow of traffic, and every so often a car or truck would pass by in the rightmost lane and spray muddy water and gravel onto the path. My dad was stressed out and walking quickly. He had recently been made chair of the Chemistry department, and while the new title…

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Gravitational Pull: Fiction by Susan L. Lin

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Honorable Mention, Adult Category In one of my earliest memories, my sister Lulu lies facedown on the living room sofa while our mother leans over her prone body, liberally applying a topical medication behind her ears. The skin there is puffy and raw, an open wound. “Your zǐzǐ pointed at the moon, and look what happened,” our mother says to me, though her gaze never strays from the task at hand. “Now you will know never to do the same.” Lulu whimpers into the seat cushion, and when…

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RAMEN: Fiction by Yvonne Gillen

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Finalist, Middle School Category I hung up my apron about to close my restaurant. I washed the used dishes, and grabbed my coat from the hangers. I pulled on my hat and scarf, and took the keys from a table. I heard a shrill giggle. I clutched my heart feeling faint.  “I must be hallucinating,” I mumbled. I shook my head and continued my work.  “Are you usually this stupid?” The voice called.  The kitchen!  I rushed over to my counter.  WHY WAS THERE A BOWL OF RAMEN…

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Book Review: Elaine Hsieh Chou’s “Disorientation”

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In 2015, poet Michael Derrick Hudson submitted his poem “The Bees” to various journals and magazines in hopes of being published. After the poem was passed over nearly forty times, Hudson decided to change his strategy. Only nine submissions later, “The Bees” was featured in that year’s edition of “The Best American Poetry” — but under the name Yi-Fen Chou. Hudson, a white man, had used a Chinese name as a pseudonym as a way to garner attention for his work.  In her debut…

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Yakuza Baby: Mooncakes

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You will know when you see it: there are people–most often children, but adults too–who are lost. Lost in themselves. They do not know their own hearts, but in time to come, they will learn. Hopefully. Most have been this person at some point in their lives, sometimes they will find themselves for a brief, fleeting moment before falling, lost once more. Eileen Tan was one such individual–or not-individual.  The almost-twelve-year-old had dark hair that was in plaits one week, loose…

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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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