Savoring Every Page of Curtis Chin’s Powerful Memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant

Charlotte Readers Podcast

In this episode 391, we feature writer, filmmaker, and activist, Curtis Chin, to talk about his new memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant.” It garnered a great deal of positive attention from popular media outlets nationwide, including being named as a 2023 top memoir by Time Magazine, the Washington Post, W. Magazine, Goodreads, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Show discussion highlights:
● Growing up in Detroit
● The importance of mealtime and what it symbolizes
● How growing up in a Chinese restaurant continues to impact Curtis’ life today
● Starting the Asian American Writers’ Workshop
● Feedback Curtis has received from the LGBTQ community and people of color
● What it means to “code-switch”
● Showing our imperfections in memoir – none of us are perfect
● Being in survival mode as a child
● Bravery - do brave people know that they are brave?
● What’s next for Curtis, being on a global book tour
● Food writing
Brief author bio:
A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in sixteen countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press, and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" was published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023. His essay in Bon Appetit was just selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023 and he just produced an episode of America's Test Kitchen's podcast, Proof.
Learn more about the author and their books HERE.
https://www.curtisfromdetroit.com/
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