Maxine Hong Kingston’s work has shaped or even launched half a century of Asian American literature and literary studies, while inspiring feminist thinking across disciplines. This event opens a retrospective on her two most influential books (The Woman Warrior and China Men) first and foremost by asking the legendary author to talk-story: to share reflections/backstories on the writing of these texts and the (family) life circumstances leading up to and away from their publications. These talk-stories may be accompanied by a slideshow of photographs, and those photographs themselves may inspire talk-story. Following that presentation, Kingston will be interviewed by erin Khue Ninh, Professor and Chair of Asian American Studies at UCSB and a scholar and student, both, of Kingston. The conversation will weave between questions of writing and biography, feminism and activism, field-defining and evergreen topics such as intergenerational conflict and mental health, and what it has been like to be Maxine Hong Kingston.

This event is presented by the Department of Asian American Studies and co-sponsored by the Walter H. Capps Center, Department of English, Department of Feminist Studies, Center for Feminist Futures, Las Maestras Center, American Cultures and Global Contexts Center, College of Creative Studies, UCSB Library, and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.