Blogs are dead; long live the blog! Welcome to a curated selection of my blog posts on writing, diversity, LGBTQ+ young adult, and my books, dating all the way back to 2008. If you enjoy my writing, please consider supporting it with a donation.
When did you first see yourself in a book? Ever since diversity and inclusion became a major part of the book world discourse, I’ve been asked this question over and over. I’m often tempted to say Little Women or Anne of Green Gables, but I know that I’m expected to respond with a book about a character that shares my race or sexual orientation.
Read MoreToday we no longer use the term “male impersonator” to describe a woman who performs onstage as a man; today we’d use the term “drag king.” But male impersonation was once a popular and mainstream entertainment, and some male impersonators were famous enough to tour nationally.
Read MoreA major part of the background research for Last Night at the Telegraph Club involved learning how Lily’s Chinese American identity would have been experienced by her and how it would have been perceived by others—not only her family and community, but by whites and other non-Chinese.
Read MoreIn the following maps, I've marked significant locations in Last Night at the Telegraph Club with numbers, and below the maps you'll see additional information about each site. If you're in San Francisco now or sometime in the future, you can visit most of these locations, or see where my fictional landmarks are set.
Read MoreLast Night at the Telegraph Club opens on July 4, 1950, at the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Independence Day Picnic, which featured a Miss Chinatown beauty pageant. The scene in the novel was inspired by the real-life beauty pageant that took place on that date in Los Altos, a suburban community south of San Francisco.
Read MoreThere’s a thing going around twitter where New York Times bestselling authors talk about how their success was not overnight. It’s true, success is not overnight! But here’s a variation for you.
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