Other Writing
Bittersweet: A Novel
“First novelist Li transforms the eventful life of her Chinese grandmother Li Xiuwen–who was born in 1889 and became the wife of Li Zongren, a major political figure in modern China–into an appealing story. Interpolating fresh historical research, Li describes the century of vital change that her protagonist, called Bittersweet, witnessed: an era that stretched from the end of the empire to the tragedy of the Tiananmen Square massacre.”— Publishers Weekly
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Daughter of Heaven: A Memoir
“This delectable book will satisfy multiple appetites: for compelling family saga, for heartfelt coming-of-age story, and for irresistible Chinese dishes.” — Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend, winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction
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Just Us Girls: The Kim Loo Sisters
Just Us Girls is the companion book to The Kim Loo Sisters, a feature-length documentary about the Chinese American jazz vocal quartet who became the first Asian American act to star in Broadway musical revues. Funny, feisty, warm and thoughtful, the “Kimmies” speak their minds in this memoir that is both a moving portrait of four sisters—daughters of a Chinese “paper son” and a Polish seamstress—and a vivid historical record of 20th-century America.
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“Pavel, Paris, Prague”: Essay published in Dorothy Parker’s Ashes.
Excerpt: “I left New York for France in September 1968, a few months after les évènements de mai — the student riots, the barricaded cobblestone streets, the Molotov cocktails—and the end of a two-year love affair. The civil unrest in Paris still made the news but no longer the headlines. In a mood as gloomy as mine and a cityscape as grim as la Ville Lumière, I would easily fit in, dressed in black, sitting in sidewalk cafés, drinking endless cups of exprès, and smoking Gitanes.
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“Shirley in the Bardo”: Short story published in Adanna, Issue 13
Excerpt: “She was having trouble sleeping and concentrating. She began losing her balance—her physical balance along with her mental and emotional equilibrium. She became accident prone. Not only opening taxi doors for delivery boys on bicycles to slam into, but falling on stairs—not down stairs but up stairs.
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