Yangsze Choo

  • So What Do Authors Wear, Anyway?

    So What Do Authors Wear, Anyway?

    I’m heading off to NYC today for Page Turner, the Asian American Writers Workshop Festival, and one of the things that has stumped me as a newbie author is “what do people wear to these things?”

  • Terrible or Great? Hand-painted Chinese Movie Billboards

    Terrible or Great? Hand-painted Chinese Movie Billboards

    Recently, I wrote a guest post for She Reads about how, when I was a little girl, my grandmother lived in a small town in Malaysia opposite a cinema which showed scary Chinese movies. We children were not allowed to go and watch them, although from the front window we…

  • 5 Things To Do in Los Angeles

    5 Things To Do in Los Angeles

    Whenever I’m in Los Angeles, there are a few things that I secretly put on my to-do list. “What secret?” says my husband. “You know you’ll make us all do this anyway!” I have to admit that he’s right.

  • Recording My Audiobook

    Recording My Audiobook

    Happy Publication Day! The Ghost Bride was (finally) published on August 6th!! In a burst of optimism, I auditioned to read my own audiobook and was actually approved. I was very excited about this, as reading aloud is a favourite activity with my kids and brings back happy memories from my…

  • Guest Post: Food for Thought – Immigrant Fiction

    Guest Post: Food for Thought – Immigrant Fiction

    Today’s guest blogger is the talented Alison Klein, who combines a keen eye for literature with an equally discerning palate. Alison lives in Amsterdam and likes to read in the plane or on her roof terrace, or wherever else books happen to be.

  • Boba! Boba! Boba!

    Boba! Boba! Boba!

    Some foods are so addictive that they raise the suspicion that they’ve been adulterated in some way. Like the 215 restaurants in southwestern China that were shut down by narcotics police for adding opium to their food.

  • It’s a Giveaway!!

    It’s a Giveaway!!

    [This giveaway has ended] No, it’s not a special sale on vegetables (although I must confess that I’ve participated in some of those crazy Asian supermarket runs). 

  • Dungeness Crab is Delicious

    Dungeness Crab is Delicious

    At every single aquarium I’ve visited, from San Francisco to Singapore, I’ve seen people pointing at endangered specimens and saying things like “Ooh, I love this in black bean sauce” Or “I remember when your uncle went fishing and we ate SO many of these things.”

  • Doing Author-Type Things

    Doing Author-Type Things

    As the publication date of my novel looms ever closer (August 2013), one of the things people have asked about is if I am going on a tour. “What sort of tour?” I said, wondering if I could possibly repeat the first and last time I joined a real sight-seeing…

  • Embracing Your Inner Auntie (or Uncle)

    Embracing Your Inner Auntie (or Uncle)

    I have now reached the age when I am regularly addressed as “auntie”. Widely used across Asia to refer to a middle-aged lady, this is supposedly a term of respect – or is it?