Echoes of Berkeley: Legacy and Language

Chinese American literary pioneer Maxine Hong Kingston revolutionized storytelling with her groundbreaking 1976 book ‘The Woman Warrior,’ which blended reality and myth to capture the immigrant experience. As part of our Bay Area Legends series, we talk with Kingston – who grew up working in her parent’s Stockton laundry business and was an integral part of Berkeley’s counterculture movement – about her genre-defying work. And we check in with contemporary authors about Kingston’s lasting influence on their craft and the evolution of immigrant narratives in American literature.

Guests:

Vanessa Hua, author, Forbidden City; Hua's previous books include “A River of Stars”; former columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

Aimee Phan, author, "The Reeducation of Cherry Truong"; associate professor of writing and literature, California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, novelist, short story writer and poet; Her most recent novel "Independence" won the American Book Award in 2024.

Maxine Hong-Kingston, author

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