S6 Ep. 39: The Kids Are at Work: Jean Kwok On Recent Efforts to Loosen Child Labor Laws and Her Years as a Child Worker in New York

Novelist Jean Kwok joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss recent changes to child labor laws in the U.S., as more than 10 states have proposed or enacted legislation that would loosen restrictions on minors working. The three talk about what the shift means in relation to labor shortages and consider migrant children’s unique vulnerability to exploitation. Kwok describes working in a New York factory from kindergarten through high school and how that experience continues to affect her life. She also reads from her novel Girl in Translation, which is based on her years as a child worker.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Jean Kwok

• The Leftover Woman
• Searching for Sylvie Lee
• Mambo in Chinatown
• Girl in Translation

Others:

• Adrian Dickey
• ‘Dumb and dangerous’: US sees surge in efforts to weaken child labor regulations, by Michael Sainato, The Guardian
• “Iowa Governor Signs Law to Loosen Child Labor Regulations” by Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio
• “Iowa Senate Republicans Pass Bill to Relax Some Child Labor Laws” by Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio
• ‘It’s just crazy’: Republicans attack US child labor laws as violations rise” by Michael Sainato, The Guardian
• “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.” by Hannah Dreier, The New York Times.
• “Republicans and Democrats have different top priorities for U.S. immigration policy” by J. Baxter Oliphant and Andy Cerda, Pew Research Center
• “House G.O.P., Divided Over Immigration, Advances Border Crackdown Plan,” by Karoun Demirjian, The New York Times
• “Jean Kwok, Author of Girl in Translation” by Jen Chung, The Gothamist
• “Children as young as 12 work legally on farms, despite years of efforts to change law” by Andrea Hsu, NPR
• ‘We give our blood so they live comfortably’: Sri Lanka’s tea pickers say they go hungry and live in squalor,” by Jeevan Ravindran, The Guardian
• “Meet the urban sharecroppers,” by Tanis Taylor, The Guardian
• China’s One-Child Policy - The New York Times

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