The “Yellowface” author is using her voice to bring Asian and Asian American histories to life on the page, and advocating for others to do the same.series, which highlights people who are changing the way we think about the world around us. To read about our other Culture Shifters, return to the list, is 28 years old and already a best-selling novelist with five books to her name. In our Zoom call, she sits in front of a white wall, with two windows on either side of her.
The New York Times examined the output of several major publishing houses and found that of the fiction books they published in 2018, only 11% were written by people of color. Kuang says the most encouraging thing that’s happened since the release of her fifth novel is that people come up to her at book signings and author chats and are able to commiserate over things that have happened to them.
One of her upcoming novels is set in Taipei, Taiwan, and revolves around language, identity and diaspora. Kuang explains that the idea for this novel came from the class she taught on Asian American history. “That kick-started a lot of questions for me about what that transpacific journey looks like, how it alters our relationships with our families, and how we figure ourselves in the world.”