Bay Area Legends: Maxine Hong Kingston Changed What It Means to Tell an American Story

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chinese American literary pioneer Maxine Hong Kingston revolutionized storytelling with her groundbreaking 1976 book ‘The Woman Warrior,’ which blended reality and myth to capture the immigrant experience. As part of our Bay Area Legends series, we talk with Kingston – who grew up working in her parent’s Stockton laundry business and was an integral part of Berkeley’s counterculture movement – about her genre-defying work. And we check in with contemporary authors about Kingston’s lasting influence on their craft and the evolution of immigrant narratives in American literature. Guests: Vanessa Hua, author, Forbidden City; Hua's previous books include “A River of Stars”; former columnist, San Francisco Chronicle Aimee Phan, author, "The Reeducation of Cherry Truong"; associate professor of writing and literature, California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, novelist, short story writer and poet; Her most recent novel "Independence" won the American Book Award in 2024. Maxine Hong-Kingston, author Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Hey, forum listeners, it's Mina. I have exciting news. We're taking forum beyond the airwaves,
0:05.5	beyond podcasts, to your screens. Now you can watch the forum conversations you love and be in the
0:11.3	room with me, Alexis, and our guests as we talk about the Bay Area, California, and beyond. Check it out
0:17.2	at YouTube.com slash KQED News. YouTube.com slash KQBD News. YouTube.com slash KQBD News.
0:24.5	Greetings, boomtown.
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0:40.9	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:57.1	Maxine Hong Kingston grew up in Stockton, the child of Chinese immigrants, before she became
1:03.5	a part of that mythical land known as Berkeley in the 1960s.
1:08.2	The publication of her groundbreaking book, The Woman Warrior, a memoir with mythological
1:13.2	elements, made her an immediate literary star. Hong Kingston's work and mentorship have
1:19.8	influenced countless other writers, some of whom join us in this latest edition of our
1:25.2	Bay Area Legend series to talk about her genre defying or
1:29.6	perhaps genre creating work.
1:31.8	They're all coming up next right after this news.
1:33.8	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:48.1	There are so, so many debut books published each and every year, and nearly all of them fall alone in the forest,
1:57.0	or if they're lucky, they find some small circle of readers.
	...

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