Part of the Distinguished Writers Series, the author discussed his memoir "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" followed by a Q&A session.
As part of the annual Distinguished Writing Series, the English department welcomed Curtis Chin -- a critically acclaimed author and filmmaker -- this Wednesday to share insight into his bestselling work, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir."
The event was hosted in the Jay S. & Jeanne Benet Alumni Lounge and co-sponsored by the department of Asian and Asian American studies with the objective of bringing celebrated writers to the University community and opening up humanizing conversations around their work. Tina Chang, the director of creative writing and an English professor at BU, explained she invited Chin for his efforts in uplifting Asian American voices and experiences.
"The book contemplates many topics I felt would be relevant to Binghamton University students as it addresses identity, family, politics, sexuality, as well as the heartbreaks of growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in Detroit, Michigan," Chang wrote in an email. "Many of our creative writing students are invested in the autobiographical experience and its expression on the page so Chin's exploration of the genre of memoir was deeply instructional."
Chang opened the evening by describing her decadeslong history with Chin, whom she credited with helping her embrace being an Asian American writer. Her introduction was followed by brief words from Rebecca Ma, a second-year Ph.D. student studying cultural anthropology.
As someone who also grew up behind the counter of a Chinese restaurant, the experiences Chin detailed in his memoir proved to be especially resonant for Ma. Divided into chapters named after popular menu items and sections structured around the traditional Chinese symbol 888, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" reflects on Chin's life beginning with his experiences in Chung's Cantonese Cuisine in Detroit, Michigan -- a family business passed down from generation to generation since its founding in 1940.
"My master's thesis was an expression of love to my family and the restaurant and the American-Chinese restaurant as an institution," Ma said. "Only Curtis' book has managed to really capture and understand communal love for food and restaurant culture in his powerful memoir."
Chin began by reading the prologue of his memoir, contextualizing it as a thoughtful "thank-you note" to his family and hometown for shaping his life. He acknowledged his rich heritage and innate connection to social justice, recounting his great-great-grandfather's journey to the United States during the height of the Chinese Exclusion Act and his father's experience of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
For the majority of the evening, Chang led a moderated conversation with Chin as he shared some of his favorite excerpts from the text -- exploring central themes of racial discrimination and family dynamics. Their restaurant, a respected cornerstone of the community, anchors both the structure and narrative of the memoir against restless neighborhoods plagued by violence and destruction.
"Detroit was a city that was really disappearing, fading away, dying," Chin said, who knew at least five victims of murder by the time he was 18. "My parents provided a place where people could go and feel like they were still Detroiters, that they were still this connection to the past of the '80s and the '40s and the '50s. It just gives more appreciation about what they were doing there -- not just for our family, but for the city of Detroit."
Chin also discussed the logistics behind the memoir's publication, where he shared that his initial manuscript was rejected by nearly 90 agents. After his father's death and the restaurant's closure in 2000, Chin felt obligated to document his family's "100-year history" for the next generation as they drifted further from their roots in Detroit. He initially pitched publishers a collection of eccentric anecdotes about his grandparents, but the draft evolved into an increasingly vulnerable exploration of his own identity as a gay, Chinese American man after countless rounds of revisions.
"The reality is that there are a lot of good books being written out there," Chin said, advising aspiring writers in the audience to be resilient and receptive to feedback. "There are a lot of talented writers out there. There are a lot of interesting stories out there. A lot of it is hard work that comes through, sometimes it's luck that comes through."
After discussing Chin's nonprofit work developing the Asian American Writers Workshop as a dedicated safe space for AAPI writers, the event concluded with an interactive audience Q&A session. Faculty and students, many of whom are also interested in pursuing writing professionally, inquired about topics like the importance of understanding your origins and engaging with your emotions.
Jen DeGregorio, the associate director of creative writing and lecturer of English at BU, hoped that attendees were able to draw inspiration from Chin and learn the significance of engaging with authors beyond the page.
"For our creative writing students, the series also provides an important professional opportunity," DeGregorio wrote in an email. "They get to hear from a successful contemporary author about how they've managed to build a career and writing practice, a journey that is different for each author. Hearing about the many paths to a sustainable writing life is crucial for those studying creative writing so that they can envision and plan for their own literary futures."