Asian American Speakers
Celebrating Asian American Pride
Award winning author whose stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, O Henry Prize Stories. Her latest book of short stories, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl has been widely acclaimed by critics. Her debut collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, Guardian First Book Award, and California Book Award for first fiction.. Her novel, The Vagrants, won the gold medal of California Book Award for fiction. She was selected by Granta as one of the 21 Best Young American Novelists under 35, and was named by The New Yorker as one of the top 20 writers under 40.
Born in Beijing, educated in the West, Jianying Zha brings unique insight into the rapidly changing political and cultural landscape in China.
Rinku Sen is the President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and Publisher of Colorlines magazine. She weaves together journalism with her extensive experience in community organizing to further social change. Sen has written extensively about immigration, community organizing and women's lives for a wide variety of publications. Her latest book, "The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization" won the Nautilus Book Award Silver Medal.
Passionate investigative journalist and author whose dynamic, award-winning works investigate the intersection of science, human rights and politics
A leading organizer in the Chinese student democracy movement, he is among forty-nine individuals blacklisted by the Beijing government. As research fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and President of The Foundation For China In The 21st Century, he continues to provide a forceful and unique perspective on this historic struggle. Jianli Yang, returned to his adopted home in 2007 in the United States after five years in Chinese prisons.
How does a child who was both a victim and survivor of the Cambodian genocide grow to become an internationally recognized human rights leader? Subject of the documentary The Flute Player and a founder of Children of War, an international youth leadership organization for building community, activism and healing for teenagers, Chorn-Pond opens our eyes and hearts, and helps us to heal.
Vaid is an attorney and community organizer, and the author of the award-winning analysis of the gay rights movement entitled "Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay & Lesbian Liberation." Formerly Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's Policy Institute, she remains committed to community-based change through strategic thinking and coalition building.
Chan stars in the one woman play "Unbinding Our Lives" which shatters the exotic, subservient, “China doll” image. In this powerful show Ms. Chan portrays three real Chinese American women from China in the 1800's and their personal stories of being sold into child slavery, prostitution, and abandonment. An unforgettable look at forgotten history.
Blurring the lines between myth and reality, fiction and nonfiction in her award-winning seven books and anthologies, Kingston traces the paths of loss and healing. Her work reflects upon her Chinese heritage while growing up in the United States .
