On Tuesday, May 5th, the Shaker Heights Public Library and the Shaker Historical Foundation hosted a discussion between renowned immigration attorney Margaret Wong and me on culture, writing, and identity at Shaker Library Main Branch. Margaret is a legend and an icon, a longtime advocate for Cleveland’s immigrant communities, in particular Cleveland’s Chinese American community.
It was a great discussion; we managed to talk about a wide range of topics including our writing processes, publishing, immigration, Chinese schools, changes in intergenerational attitudes and expectations towards education, changes in the Cleveland Asian American community, and more.
Margaret’s team shared a video reel from the event here.
Thank you to Perry Public Library in Perry, Ohio for inviting me to speak about Mathey Girls! It was a very snowy night but I was delighted to have a cozy and intimate discussion with new friends.
If you’d like to see Mathey Girls in your library, please request that they add the book — available in print, ebook, and audiobook!
On January 17th, I had the privilege to take part in the Cleveland Public Library At the Table series, a community dialogue series engaging with local authors, advocates, and achievers.
It was an extraordinary experience to speak at the beautiful Martin Luther King, Jr. Branch on Mathey Girls and maternal health awareness. It was such an honor to be joined by Da’na M. Langford from Village of Healing, a community health center focusing on black maternal health, and UH OBs Susan Lasch and Steve Porter. I had not seen Drs. Lasch and Porter since 2018, and I am so grateful that I was able to thank them in person for saving my life when I gave birth to my son.
Thank you to everyone who braved the snow squall to join the discussion! I personally learned a lot—from the trepidation that OBs feel all the way through their patients’ pregnancies, to the amazing things that Village of Healing is doing for its patients. I especially appreciated that Village of Healing sees both the mother and the baby during the postnatal follow-ups. They truly save lives doing this, as Da’na related one recent experience where they caught a mother’s life-threatening blood pressure issue this way.
I have spent the last couple of weeks alternating between excitement for this event and trepidation about speaking so personally and vulnerably. I held it together (yay me!), and feel so so grateful I could share my story.
Some photos from the event are below (credit Catherine Young at Cleveland Public Library); a reel of all the photos is here and a full recording of the event is here.
Promoting Mathey Girls has really opened my eyes to a lot of great Cleveland institutions/gatherings/opportunities that I wasn’t aware of before. One of these is TV20 Cleveland, the City of Cleveland’s news channel. They have lots of great content, including weekly news updates.
Thank you to Cal Calhoun and the TV20 team for allowing me to chat about my upcoming event 1/17/26 at Cleveland Public Library’s new Martin Luther King, Jr. Branch!
As a reminder, please register at the CPL website. Parking will be at the Artisan Garage next door, and CPL staff will be on hand to direct people to the event and validate parking. There will be light refreshments and a book signing afterward. It’s going to be a great event.
On September 16th we had an amazing turnout for the “Growing up Chinese in Cleveland” event in conjunction with the Cleveland Public Library and MidTown Cleveland. It was an event for all ages: an art project and activities for kids; free copies of my debut adult novel, Mathey Girls; snacks and a panel discussion about being involved in the Cleveland Chinese American community. It was a fantastic gathering of almost 200 community members from around the city.
CPL photographer Catherine Young put together an amazing video from the event, available here, and I’ve included some of my favorite photos below.
Last October I sat in on the monthly Self-Publishing Roundtable at the CCPL South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch. I was in the throes of querying for agents and doubting whether Mathey Girls would ever be published. That roundtable helped convince me that self-pub was a viable option for me, that I too could do all the tech and design things needed to bring the book into the world. Last week I was honored to present at a Self-Pub Roundtable along with Becky Scaglione and Gino Tomaro. It was a chance to reflect on my self-pub journey and offer some encouragement and tips to other aspiring authors. Huge thanks to Laurie Kincer and the Writer’s Center at South Euclid Branch for the amazing support and resources they provide to writers at all stages of their journey.
I had so much fun meeting readers and giving out copies of Mathey Girls at the Cleveland Public Library booth at One World Day! Thank you to the Cleveland Public Library for having me!
