Interview: Shawna Yang RyanPosted in Articles, Asian Diaspora, Media Archive on 2016-06-21 20:24Z by Steven |
New Bloom: Radical perspectives on Taiwan and the Asia Pacific
2016-06-20
Brian Hioe, Editor
Photo credit: Anna Wu Photography
On May 6th, New Bloom editor Brian Hioe interviewed Shawna Yang Ryan through Skype. Ryan is most recently the author of Green Island, which depicts Taiwan’s White Terror and authoritarian era. Ryan currently teaches in the Creative Writing program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Brian Hioe: The first question I wanted to ask was, for people who might not know you, can you briefly introduce yourself and your background?
Shawna Yang Ryan: Sure. I grew up in California to parents who had met in Taiwan. My mother is from Taiwan and my father is American but his mother is German, and he was actually born in Germany. I grew up in Northern California. I went to UC Berkeley for my undergraduate degree and then to UC Davis for my MA in Creative Writing. I also wrote a book about a Chinese community set in the Sacramento Delta. That was my first book, Water Ghosts. Now I have my second book, which is about Taiwan…
Read the entire interview here.