Books and Boba Potluck Podcast Collective

For this author chat, we sit down with Rita Chang-Eppig about her debut novel Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea, a historical fiction novel painting a portrait of legendary (and real life) Chinese pirate queen Shek Yeung who ruled the South China Seas in the early 19th century. We chat with Rita about her inspirations for the story as well as her own journey as an author.
Follow Rita on IG at @rche_types and check out her novel, Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea, availaible now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
*Support the podcast by supporting our new Patreon*
Follow our Guest:
Hanh Nguyen (@hanhonymous)
Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:
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The Books & Boba June 2023 pick is We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
Mentioned in this episode:
Books & Boba started a Patreon!
After 6 and a half years, Books & Boba has started a Patreon! Our little podcast has been a wonderful labor of love and we’ve been proud of the book discussions and author chats that we’ve been able to bring to you all, but we want to do more! We’ve got big dreams for Books & Boba and so we’re asking our community for support. Help us grow the book club so we can support more books written by Asian diaspora authors!

The Books & Boba Patreon has 2 membership tiers, our “Regular Boba” tier at $3 a month which gives you access to the brand new Books & Boba members-only discord server, and the “Honey Boba” premium tier which comes with discord access as well as access to our new “Boba Chat” podcast where Marvin and Reera chat about non-book related things as well as answer member questions.

Check out our patreon at patreon.com/booksandboba
Patreon

One of the cool parts of being in podcasting is taking part in a community of like-minded creators, this is especially true for those of us in the Asian American podcasting space. That's why we're always excited to find new shows that explore the Asian American experience through new and interesting lenses.
Ten Thousand Things is a podcast from KUOW Seattle about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life, hosted by award-winning poet and museologist Shin Yu Pai. We're excited to share their episode "Book" with Chinese American author and scholar Shawn Wong.
Listen to more episodes of Ten Thousand Things and follow the podcast!
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Shawn Wong discovered the first Japanese American novel, No-No Boy, at a used bookstore for 50 cents, after being told by his English professors that Asian American literature didn’t exist. 
He sought out the author, John Okada, and he fought to have the book republished and distributed far and wide, to unearth the legacy of Asian American writers. But all the mainstream publishers rejected it. So Shawn started to print, distribute, and sell the novel himself with friends,often from the trunk of his car. 
The Asian American community turned up, ordering books by mail, telling their friends, and sending checks with handwritten letters- a testament to a generation hungry for their own stories.
Correction, 10:30 a.m., 6/6/2023: The audio version of this story misstates the name of the protagonist in No-No Boy. The character's name is Ichiro Yamada.
Related Links: 
Shawn WongBook notes: A talk with UW English professor, author Shawn Wong about his UW Press book series for Asian American authors
Related reading:
Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers by Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Shawn WongToshio Mori’s Yokohama California was Ahead of its Time via International ExaminerHisaye YamamotoWakako YamauchiNisei Daughter by Monica SoneEat a Bowl of Tea by Louis ChuJanice MirikitaniFrontiers of Love by Diana ChangAmerica is in the Heart by Carlos BulosanUncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle by Peter BachoDancer Dawkins and the California

On this episode we are discussing our May 2023 book club pick, The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh. A story about a Vietnamese family dealing with the effects of a very petty curse that has resulted in generations of only daughters to be born to their family, and the modern decedents in America dealing with all the generational trauma that comes from being daughters to refugee mothers. To help us dive into all the Vietnamese American familial drama we've invited a special guest Hanh Nguyen, one of Marvin's co-hosts on the Good Pop Culture Club podcast and Senior Culture Editor at Salon.com!
*Support the podcast by supporting our new Patreon*
Follow our Guest:
Hanh Nguyen (@hanhonymous)
Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
FacebookTwitterGoodreads Group
The Books & Boba June 2023 pick is We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
Mentioned in this episode:
Books & Boba started a Patreon!
After 6 and a half years, Books & Boba has started a Patreon! Our little podcast has been a wonderful labor of love and we’ve been proud of the book discussions and author chats that we’ve been able to bring to you all, but we want to do more! We’ve got big dreams for Books & Boba and so we’re asking our community for support. Help us grow the book club so we can support more books written by Asian diaspora authors!

The Books & Boba Patreon has 2 membership tiers, our “Regular Boba” tier at $3 a month which gives you access to the brand new Books & Boba members-only discord server, and the “Honey Boba” premium tier which comes with discord access as well as access to our new “Boba Chat” podcast where Marvin and Reera chat about non-book related things as well as answer member questions.

Check out our patreon at patreon.com/booksandboba
Patreon

To finish up APAHM, we're highlighting another one of our fellow Asian American podcasts from the Potluck Podcast Collective. This time we're dropping an episode of our fellow #PotluckPod QUARANTINED COMICS, a podcast where hosts Raman and Ryan discuss, debate, and nerd out on some of the comic's greatest, latest, and strangest works, about Gene Luen Yang's seminal graphic novel, AMERICAN BORN CHINESE, now a television series on Disney+.
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So with Asian American Heritage Month, we decided that G should be for Gene Luen Yang ...mostly as an excuse to read AMERICAN BORN CHINESE, Yang's Eisner Award-winning, seminal graphic novel soon to be released as a Disney+ streaming show with a bevvy of Oscar winners. American Born Chinese is Gene Luen Yang's was first released in 2006 - written and illustrated by Yang, and also colored by cartoonist Lark Pien. American Born Chinese consists of three seemingly disparate tales...
First, the legendary Chinese Monkey King from the classic 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West. However, blink and you might miss it, but Yang replaces the Buddha with a Christian influenced deity.The second storyline is the all-too-familiar Asian American coming of age story of a young American Born Chinese man Jin Wang, who befriends a new arrival from Taiwan, Wei Chen. As with any story of teen drama, romance is afoot with Jin's American crush Amelia Harris. And the third story depicts an American TV sitcom with All American boy Danny and his cousin visting from Chin-kee, who if you couldn't tell from the name alone, is meant to be an amalgam of racist stereotype, from the outlandish costume, heavy accent, buck teeth, and yes, predilection for putting pee pee in your coke. Eventually these three tales become come together into a poignant lesson of culture and self acceptance.
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*Support the podcast by purchasing books at our bookshop or by buying Books & Boba merch at our Bonfire store*
Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
FacebookTwitterGoodreads Group
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we check out the latest book and publishing news in Asian American literature for our APAHM 2023 edition of our mid-month check-in and Reera teaches Marvin what a Bigolas Dickalas is.
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
The First State of Being by Erin Entrada KellySamina Goes to a Wedding by Farida ZamanThe Pink Pajamas, by Charlene ChuaPerfect Is Not Perfect by Laan ChamA City Full of Santas by Joanna Ho ; illust by Thai PhuongStay Angry, Little Girl, illust by Michelle Jing ChanThe Library Is Open by Kim Chi and Stephan LeeOf Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen Thea and the Mischief Makers by Tracy Badua Airbnboo by Tracy BaduaThe Cliff House by GuojingThe ABCs of Queer History by Seema YasminWolf Girl by Anh DoI Could Give You the Moon by Ann Liang K-Jane by Lydia KangSome of Us: A Story of Citizenship and America by Newbery Rajani LaRocca; Illust by Huy Voun LeePing's Perfect Pot by Helen H. Wu; illust by Zihua Yang
*Support the podcast by supporting our new Patreon*
Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
FacebookTwitterGoodreads Group

The Books & Boba May 2023 pick is The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
Mentioned in this episode:
Books & Boba started a Patreon!
After 6 and a half years, Books & Boba has started a Patreon! Our little podcast has been a wonderful labor of love and we’ve been proud of the book discussions and author chats that we’ve been able to bring to you all, but we want to do more! We’ve got big dreams for Books & Boba and so we’re asking our community for support. Help us grow the book club so we can support more books written by Asian diaspora authors!

The Books & Boba Patreon has 2 membership tiers, our “Regular Boba” tier at $3 a month which gives you access to the brand new Books & Boba members-only discord server, and the “Honey Boba” premium tier which comes with discord access as well as access to our new “Boba Chat” podcast where Marvin and Reera chat about non-book related things as well as answer member questions.

Check out our patreon at...

On this episode, we chat with Melissa de la Cruz, probably one of the most prolific Asian American authors in the industry, about her new YA thriller The Headmaster's List, about Spencer, a Filipina-American private high school student, who sets out to figure out the truth behind a fatal car crash that left one of her classmates dead, her ex-boyfriend under arrest, and herself without her memories of the night. Of course, we also chat with Melissa about her long storied career as an author.
Follow Melissa on IG at @authormelissadelacruz and check out her novel, The Headmaster's List, availaible now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
*Support the podcast by supporting our new Patreon*
Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
FacebookTwitterGoodreads Group
The Books & Boba May 2023 pick is The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
Mentioned in this episode:
Books & Boba started a Patreon!
After 6 and a half years, Books & Boba has started a Patreon! Our little podcast has been a wonderful labor of love and we’ve been proud of the book discussions and author chats that we’ve been able to bring to you all, but we want to do more! We’ve got big dreams for Books & Boba and so we’re asking our community for support. Help us grow the book club so we can support more books written by Asian diaspora authors!

The Books & Boba Patreon has 2 membership tiers, our “Regular Boba” tier at $3 a month which gives you access to the brand new Books & Boba members-only discord server, and the “Honey Boba” premium tier which comes with discord access as well as access to our new “Boba Chat” podcast where Marvin and Reera chat about non-book related things as well as answer member questions.

Check out our patreon at patreon.com/booksandboba
Patreon