Join Library Shop Mission Hills and Banyan Roots Collective for a conversation with queer author and activist Curtis Chin, alongside therapist Camille Grace Kelly. Together, they’ll discuss immigrant family dynamics, queer identity, and the importance of food in connection, all drawing from Chin’s 2023 memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant.
This event includes an author conversation, Q&A and book signing. Proceeds from book sales support the San Diego Public Library. Free to attend; registration encouraged, but walk-ins welcome.
“Curtis Chin’s movable feast of a memoir dishes out everything you might want in a literary meal— savory reflections of our recent history, the sour-sweet tang of adolescent nostalgia, a little sauce, a lot of heart— and yes, plenty of hot tea. The real magic is in how a book that’s so fulfilling still leaves you hungry for more.”
—Jeff Yang, New York Times bestselling author of The Golden Screen and Rise
ABOUT THE BOOK
Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone— from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples— could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, beneath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city’s spiraling misfortunes; and where— between helpings of almond boneless chicken, sweet-and-sour pork, and some of his own, less-savory culinary concoctions— he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, to his beloved family, and to himself.
Served up by the cofounder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and structured around the very menu that graced the tables of Chung’s, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant is both a memoir and an invitation: to step inside one boy’s childhood oasis, scoot into a vinyl booth, and grow up with him – and perhaps even share something off the secret menu.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Curtis Chin is the author of the award-winning memoir Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, which was named a Stonewall Honor Book and a 2024 Michigan Notable Book. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. Chin has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press, and the Boston Globe, as well as for comedy shows on network television. He is a co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City and served as the non-profit’s first Executive Director. His essay in Bon Appetit was selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023 and his documentary short, “Dear Corky,” premiered on American Masters (PBS). He is currently working on a new docuseries on the history of Chinese restaurants in America. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
ABOUT BANYAN ROOTS COLLECTIVE
Banyan Roots Collective (BRC) is an inclusive literary arts organization highlighting works from and for the Asian-Pacific region and its diaspora, based in San Diego, CA (unceded territory of the Kumeyaay Nation). BRC promotes talent and awareness through pop-up events as they build toward a dedicated space for convening community. Join the collective!
