One of the cool parts of being in podcasting is taking part in a community of like-minded creators, this is especially true for those of us in the Asian American podcasting space. That's why we're always excited to find new shows that explore the Asian American experience through new and interesting lenses.

Ten Thousand Things is a podcast from KUOW Seattle about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life, hosted by award-winning poet and museologist Shin Yu Pai. We're excited to share their episode "Book" with Chinese American author and scholar Shawn Wong.

Listen to more episodes of Ten Thousand Things and follow the podcast!

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Shawn Wong discovered the first Japanese American novel, No-No Boy, at a used bookstore for 50 cents, after being told by his English professors that Asian American literature didn’t exist. 

He sought out the author, John Okada, and he fought to have the book republished and distributed far and wide, to unearth the legacy of Asian American writers. But all the mainstream publishers rejected it. So Shawn started to print, distribute, and sell the novel himself with friends,often from the trunk of his car. 

The Asian American community turned up, ordering books by mail, telling their friends, and sending checks with handwritten letters- a testament to a generation hungry for their own stories.

Correction, 10:30 a.m., 6/6/2023: The audio version of this story misstates the name of the protagonist in No-No Boy. The character's name is Ichiro Yamada.

Related Links: 

• Shawn Wong
• Book notes: A talk with UW English professor, author Shawn Wong about his UW Press book series for Asian American authors

Related reading:

• Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers by Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Shawn Wong
• Toshio Mori’s Yokohama California was Ahead of its Time via International Examiner
• Hisaye Yamamoto
• Wakako Yamauchi
• Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone
• Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu
• Janice Mirikitani
• Frontiers of Love by Diana Chang
• America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
• Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle by Peter Bacho
• Dancer Dawkins and the California Kid by Willyce Kim
• Premonitions: The Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry edited by Walter Lew
• Pinoy Poetics: A Collection of Autobiographical and Critical Essays on Filipino and Filipino American Poetics edited by Nick Carbo
• The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith & Spirit edited by Leah Silvieus and Lee Herrick

We can only make Ten Thousand Things because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW.

And we want to hear from you! Leave us feedback online.

Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Taika. 

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Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.

Mentioned in this episode:

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"Inheriting" is a show about Asian American and Pacific Islander families, which explores how one event in history can ripple through generations. In doing so, the show seeks to break apart the AAPI monolith and tell a fuller story of these communities. In each episode, NPR’s Emily Kwong sits down with one family and facilitates deeply emotional conversations between their loved ones, exploring how their most personal, private moments are an integral part of history. Through these stories, we show how the past is personal and how to live with the legacies we’re constantly inheriting. New episodes premiere every Thursday. Subscribe to “Inheriting” on your app of choice

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