Join the Library\, Loyalty Bookstores\, an d the Mayor's Office of Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs for a conversat ion with Curtis Chin about his new memoir Everything I Learned\, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. In conversation with MOAPIA Director Ben de Guzm an\, Chin will share from his book about growing up Chinese-American and g ay in Detroit in the 1980's.
\nBooks will be available for sale and signing from Loyalty Bookstores\, and a limited number will be available c ourtesy of the DC Public Library Foundation.
\nAbout the boo k:
\nNineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live \, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung&rsquo\;s Cantonese Cuisine \, where anyone&mdash\;from the city&rsquo\;s first Black mayor to the loc al drag queens\, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples& mdash\;could sit down for a warm\, home-cooked meal. Here was where\, bene ath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family\, f ilmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age\; where he learned to embrac e his identity as a gay ABC\, or American-born Chinese\; where he navigate d the divided city&rsquo\;s spiraling misfortunes\; and where&mdash\;betwe en helpings of almond boneless chicken\, sweet-and-sour pork\, and some of his own\, less-savory culinary concoctions&mdash\;he realized just how mu ch he had to offer to the world\, to his beloved family\, and to himself.< /p>\n
Served up by the cofounder of the Asian American Writers&rsquo\; W orkshop and structured around the very menu that graced the tables of Chun g&rsquo\;s\, \;Everything I Learned\, I Learned in a Chinese Restauran t \;is both a memoir and an invitation: to step inside one boy&rsquo\; s childhood oasis\, scoot into a vinyl booth\, and grow up with him&mdash\ ;and perhaps even share something off the secret menu.
\nAbo ut the author:
\nA co-founder of the Asian American Writers &rsquo\; Workshop in New York City\, Curtis Chin served as the non-profits &rsquo\; first Executive Director. He went on to write for network and cab le television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin h as screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has writt en for CNN\, Bon Appetit\, the Detroit Free Press and the Emancipator/Bost on Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan\, Chin has received awa rds from ABC/Disney Television\, New York Foundation for the Arts\, Nation al Endowment for the Arts\, and more. His memoir\, "Everything I Learned\, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" will be published by Little\, Brown in Fall 2023. His essay in Bon Appetit was just selected for Best Food Writi ng in America 2023.
\nAbout the moderator:
\nBen de Guzman is the Director of the Mayor&rsquo\;s Office on Asian and Pa cific Islander Affairs (MOAPIA). He has been a leading voice at the local and national level on issues of racial equity\, immigrants' rights\, veter ans affairs\, and LGBT justice for more than two decades. He comes to MOAP IA from the Mayor&rsquo\;s Office of LGBTQ Affairs\, where he served as th e Community Outreach Specialist. During his tenure there\, he helped execu te two major first time events for the Office- the &ldquo\;District of Pri de&rdquo\; LGBTQ cultural performance event and the 32nd Annual 17th Stree t High Heel Race\, presented by the Mayor&rsquo\;s Office as lead organize r.
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