About

I am the author of THE FOREST FOR THE TREES, a hybrid novel which will be published by Black Lawrence Press in September 2024, and of four other books: BITTERSWEET: A Novel (Tuttle Publishing); DAUGHTER OF HEAVEN: A Memoir With Earthly Recipes (Arcade Publishing); JUST US GIRLS (Four Seasons Press), the companion book to my feature length documentary THE KIM LOO SISTERS; and ENTER THE DRAGON: Children’s Plays Based on Three Chinese Folktales (Main Street Arts Press).

My personal essays and feature articles have appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Travel & Leisure, Gourmet, Health, Saveur, Garden Design, Modern Maturity, Condé Nast Traveler, and the online magazine Dorothy Parker’s Ashes.

I've presented my memoir and fiction writing workshop “The Tao of Writing” at Skidmore College, Manhattanville College, SUNY Purchase, The New York Open Center, Paris Writing Workshops, Paris, France, and The Writer’s Voice of the West Side YMCA.

My grants and fellowships include a Freeman Foundation Grant, Manhattan Community Arts Fund Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts Fiscal Sponsorship, Chinese Heritage Foundation Grant, New York State Council for the Arts Artist Grant, and a Tennessee Williams Scholarship for Fiction. I've been awarded residencies at Ledig House, the Millay Colony for the Arts, The Cottages at Hedgebrook, and Fondation Ledig-Rowohlt in Lavigny, Switzerland.

I am the writer/producer/director of the feature-length documentary THE KIM LOO SISTERS about a jazz vocal quartet popular in the 1930s and '40s who became the first Asian American act to star in Broadway musical revues.

My musical collaborations include THE MAGIC WHIP, a composition by Ying Zhang performed by the St. Paul Civic Symphony, and FANTASY FOR ORCHESTRA AND CHINESE FLUTE composed by Jan Gilbert, also performed by the St. Paul Civic Symphony. Both compositions were inspired by my children's play THE MAGIC WHIP.

I've recently completed DOUBLE THUNDER, the sequel to my historical novel BITTERSWEET.

Featured Work

Daughter of Heaven: A Memoir with Earthly Recipes

2005, 2012
book jacket

The author's Chinese paternal grandmother Nai-nai comes to live with her son's family in New York, quickly taking control of the kitchen. In the process, she opens up the heart and mind of her American granddaughter to her Chinese heritage and helps her bridge the growing gap at home between her tradition-bound Chinese father and her progressive biracial mother. Interspersed throughout the memoir are the author's personal recipes, most of them from Nai-nai's kitchen.

Other Works

  • Just Us Girls: The Official Companion Book to The Kim Loo Sisters Documentary

    2015

  • Enter The Dragon: Children's Plays Based on Three Chinese Folktales (with Scripts and Music)

    2012

  • Bittersweet: A Novel

    1992, 1994

Awards and Recognition

  • My novel The Forest for the Trees was awarded The 2023 Big Moose Prize in Fiction and will be published by Black Lawrence Press in 2024.
  • The Kim Loo Sisters feature-length documentary was a finalist in The Paley Center for Media DocPitch 2015.
  • I was the recipient of the Leo Maitland Fellowship at the Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY

Press and Media Mentions