May-lee Chai
May-lee Chai was born in Redlands, California and is the oldest daughter of an Irish American mother and Chinese political scientist father. She has lived in fourteen states in the U.S. and four countries. She majored in Chinese and French Studies at Grinnell College in Iowa, then went on to receive an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Yale. Chai is both a writer and professor. She has taught at San Francisco State University, the University of Wyoming, and Amherst College in Massachusetts. She has published multiple short stories, journals, magazines, anthologies, essays, and books. Her eight books, including three novels, My Lucky Face, Dragon Chica, and Tiger Girl and two works of memoir, The Girl from Purple Mountain and Hapa Girl; document the lives of East Asian immigrants and Chinese culture. May-lee is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Grant in Literature. She is currently working on a character-oriented crime novel dealing with international cover-up.
When asked about what advice she would share with upcoming writers, she responded,
"1) Write every day. Even if it’s just a paragraph, start writing! Then keep writing every day so that it becomes like eating or breathing, a part of your life that you can’t live without.
2) Write what you love and want to write about. Don’t try to second-guess the market. Your passion will come through if you’re writing about something you truly care about.
3) When you revise, think of it as an opportunity to re-envision your story, to explore a new path. Don’t think of it as a chore.
4) Don’t give up!"
"May-Lee Chai Biography." May-Lee Chai Biography. University of North Carolina Wilmington. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Chai, May-lee. "Author Bio." May-lee Chai's Blog. 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Sharif, Medeia. "Interview with Author May-lee Chai." Medeia Sharif. 3 Oct. 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Chai, May-lee (mayleechai). "@typicalgirlname just sent you a direct message! Thx!". 26 Oct 2015, 20:29 UTC. Tweet
Questions
1) How would Nea's relationship with her family change if she were male?
2) How is Nea's family defined by cultural constrictions?
3) How would you describe the relationship between the two sisters?
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