BIOGRAPHY
Born and raised in Malaysia, I graduated from Wellesley College, worked for several years, and am presently working toward a Ph.D. in Chinese Literature at Yale. In 1997 I was awarded the generous Wellesley College Stevens Traveling Fellowship to travel to Asia to further develop FireWife. FireWife is my first book. I am fluent in Mandarin-Chinese and the Teohchew and Hokkien dialects. My grandparents left China and settled in Malaysia in the 1920s and 1930s when Malaysia was a British colony. My parents are first generation Chinese born and raised in Malaysia. The greatest gifts they have given me are my three brothers. I now live in Vermont with my husband and my baby daughter.
My Favorite Things
I love colors, meadows, trees, fabrics, photographs, books, food, cooking slowly, eating slowly, dancing, the smell of rain, my daughter's laughter, the sound and shape of words, and the taste of lemon grass in Penang Laksa noodle soup.
Favorite Quote
"The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh." by Samuel Beckett
Major Influences on My Writing
The sound of Chinese language, Chinese poetry, my parents.
Favorite Lines
"Go with the flow: let come, let go."
"I am fine; I don't live in Sudan."
Favorite Links
eric reeves' sudan reports
living on earth
slow food movement
chez panisse restaurant
v day
hyphen magazine
mcsweeneys
this american life
head butler
restaurant au pied de cochon
what has happened to the elephants?
doctors without borders
thehungersite.com Go daily and click. Sponsors of the site will donate one cup of staple food per click.
ionarozealbrown.com My friend, Iona Rozeal Brown, is known for her paintings titled a³ blackfaces. I love the colors, wit and the thought-provoking marriage between African and Asian elements in Iona's paintings. On my home page, the image to enter Events is her painting, painted moons ago when she was a college student. Recently, Hirshhorn Museum in DC bought a painting of hers. Woohoo! You can see that painting on her website home page.
bingyi.info My friend, Bingyi, donated a painting to a charity art auction in Beijing in 2006. The painting went for $16,000. On my home page, the image to enter Forum is that painting. I love the ease and childlike quality in Bingyi’s paintings. Since last year, Bingyi has had two solo shows in New York City galleries. Sweet!
citizenyang.blogspot If Citizen Yang has not posted or has been posting only job ads for days on his blog about the environment and environmental law, that is because he has been busy washing dishes, changing diapers, shoveling the snow or mowing the lawn. On my home page, the photo to enter Contact was taken by Citizen Yang.
gone2thedogs.com My friend, Mei Chin, introduced me to the SUKA doggy machine. If you want to know what kind of dog you are, go to this site and click game. Mei won the 2005 James Beard Foundation MFK Fisher Distinguised Writing Award for her Saveur article, Eat Drink Mother Daughter. Brava!
annbrandon.com My friend, Ann, is a coinoisseur of Italian art. Her marvelous book, Artful Italy, is essential for finding hidden treasures in rarely visited nooks in Italy. She just launched an exquisite webzine for lovers of Florence, Venice, and Rome.
goodbooksguide.com Eric Forbes is a book blogger in Malaysia. His site is well known among Malaysian book lovers. He lives in Kuala Lumpur.
yamazaki.the.crab.blogspot This is a blog blogged by a crab named Yamazaki (cough, Sujin Kim). Yamazaki was saved by my sister-in-law (cough, Sujin Kim) from a sushi restaurant in LA. It has since been struggling with a plastic palm tree in a tank. While not blogging, Yamazaki waits for Godot.
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Photo Credit: Marion Ettlinger |
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