We over here at Kaya Press are more than proud to host a reading and discussion of H.T. Tsiang and his writings by New Yorker contributing writer Hua Hsu, whose recently published A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific (Harvard University Press), explores Tsiang’s life in detail. Joining him will be Floyd Cheung, the scholar and writer who bought Tsiang’s works to Kaya Press, and the editor of Kaya’s series reprinting Tsiang’s books, including, most recently And China Has Hands. The discussion will be moderated by scholar and Pulitzer Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen. 

Please note: this event will take place on Wednesday, October 19th, the day before the Otros Libros event, on the University of Southern California campus, at 2 pm.

Light refreshments will be served!

Wednesday Oct. 19th
2 – 4 p.m.
Room 445 (4th Floor)
Kaprielan Hall (3620 S. Vermont Street)
University of Southern California, Los Angeles

BIOS

Poet, playwright, and novelist. Hsi Tseng Tsiang (H. T. Tsiang) was born in China in 1899 and came to America as a young man. He was involved with the Greenwich Village literary scene in the 1920s and 1930s, and self-published a number of books which he would hawk at downtown political meetings. Tsiang also appeared as an actor in Hollywood, most notably in the film Tokyo Rose. He died in 1971 in Los Angeles, CA.

Floyd Cheung is Associate Professor of English Language & Literature and American Studies at Smith College. In addition to teaching English language and literature and American studies, Floyd Cheung is also a member of the Five College Asian/Pacific/American Studies Certificate Program, for which he served as the founding chair. In 2012, he was awarded Smith’s Sherrerd Prize for Distinguished Teaching. From 2014 to the present, Cheung has been serving as the director of the Sherrerd Center for Teaching and Learning. Born in Hong Kong, Cheung grew up in Las Vegas. At Smith he teaches courses in American literature, American studies and Asian American literature and culture. In each of these fields, Cheung has published articles in academic journals. He is particularly interested in the recovery of early Asian American texts. Cheung also writes poetry. Along with AND CHINA HAS HANDS, Cheung has edited H.T. Tsiang’s THE HANGING ON UNION SQUARE (Kaya Press, 2013)

Hua Hsu is a contributing writer for newyorker.com and The New Yorker. He is the author of “A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific.” He has previously written for Artforum, The Atlantic, Grantland, Slate, and The Wire. His work has been anthologized in “Best Music Writing” and “Best African American Essays,” and his 2012 essay on suburban Chinatowns was a finalist for a James Beard Award for food writing. He also served on the editorial board of “A New Literary History of America” (2009). He is currently an associate professor of English at Vassar College and a fellow at the New America Foundation. He serves on the executive board of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop.