Chicago’s Asian American Literary Scene

By Jane Hseu

The East and West Coasts may get more attention for Asian American literature, but Chicago more than holds its own in terms of literature about and by Asian Americans.  

CLHOF Zoom Reading on Thursday, May 29th, 7 p.m.

As part of the celebration of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame is hosting a Zoom reading on Thursday, May 29th, 7 p.m. The Zoom reading highlights three Asian American literary/arts organizations in Chicago–Kundiman Midwest, Banyan: Asian American Writers Collective, and South Asia Institute–and writers connected with these organizations. Directors/founders of the organizations Helene Achanzar, M.G. Bertulfo, and Shireen Ahmad will tell us about ways to connect.

The writers reading at the event include Ignatius Valentine Aloysius, whose novel Fishhead is about a teenage boy in a poverty-stricken family in 1970s Mumbai who receives the affections of an upper-middle-class girl. Salt Pruning is Ignatius’ poetry collection with David Allen Sullivan. 

Maggie Su’s novel Blob is about protagonist Vi Liu finding a strange blob and molding it into her ideal partner: a movie-star handsome white man. However, her “journey of self-discovery . . . teaches her it’s impossible to control those you love.”

Also reading is Karen Su, who has published four children’s books about notable Asian Americans, including ones about Grace Lee Boggs and Yuri Kochiyama. 

Viola Lee’s poetry collection is Lightning After the Echo, which addresses the natural and built environment of Lee’s native Chicago and the passage of time, the body, and everyday objects. 

M.G. Bertulfo has published her work in Growing Up Filipino II and Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the U.S. 

Helene Achanzar’s work has been published in literary magazines Sixth Finch, Quarterly West, Georgia Review, and elsewhere. 

We hope you’re able to join us to discuss the Asian American literary scene in Chicago and perhaps tell us more about your own writing and activities! 

Chicago and Asian American Literature

There is a rich and vibrant history of Asian American writers in Chicago that contributes to the current energy and creativity of contemporary writers. Of course, the below is not an exhaustive list of books by Asian American writers in Chicago. Please tell us your favorite titles! 

According to Abby Bayani-Heitzman, Bienvenido Santos came to the U.S. from the Philippines in 1941 as a scholar at the University of Illinois. He taught at the University of Iowa and was Professor of Creative Writing and Distinguished Writer in Residence at Wichita State University. His 1955 short story, “The Day the Dancers Came,” is about the gap between Fil, an older Filipino man living in Chicago, and younger dancers visiting from the Philippines who reject his invitation to dinner. As Bayani-Heitzman states, Santos’ “stories are often concerned with finding a sense of belonging amidst the changes of modernity, and Santos surely experienced these struggles himself while in the Midwest.”

Li-Young Lee is a long-time Chicago resident who has published many books of poetry, most recently The Invention of the Darling. 

Pisces Urges is Czaerra Galicinao Ucol’s poetry collection. Czaerra is Programs and Communications Director at Luya Poetry, a poetry organization that uplifts the voices of people of color in Chicago, and Studio Manager at Story Studio. 

Jami Nakamura Lin’s speculative memoir The Night Parade addresses her bipolar disorder alongside Japanese, Taiwanese, and Okinawan legends, with illustrations by her sister, Cori Nakamura Lin. 

Faisal Mohyuddin is the child of immigrants from Pakistan and has published several books of poetry; the latest one is Elsewhere: An Elegy. 

Jessamine Chan grew up in and moved back to Oak Park. Her novel School for Good Mothers is a The New York Times bestseller. 

Lani Montreal’s FANBOYS: Poems about Teaching and Learning comments upon, among other things, her English educational work, including teaching at Malcolm X College. 

Dipika Mukherjee writes fiction, poetry, and essays about travel. Her latest book is Writer’s Postcards.

Ira Sukrungruang’s memoir Talk Thai discusses growing up in the 1980s in Oak Lawn where inside his house was “Thailand with American conveniences.” 

Naomi Hirahara’s mystery novel Clark and Division takes place in 1944 after the Ito family has been released from the Manzanar incarceration camp and moved to the Japanese American neighborhood at Clark and Division. 

Monica Eng is a journalist who has worked for the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, and WBEZ and is currently at Axios Chicago. Her book Made in Chicago, co-written with David Hammond, looks at the local, unique foods of Chicago.  

Kay Ulanday Barrett is a disabled Filipinx-amerikan transgender queer writer and artist from Chicago. More than Organs is their poetry collection about bodies in transit. 

Vu Tran is an English professor at the University of Chicago whose novel Dragonfish was a The New York Times Notable Book.

Mary Anne Mohanraj is an English professor at UIC. Among her many books is Tornado, her memoir about breast cancer.

Luisa Igloria completed a PhD in English/Creative Writing at UIC and continues to have strong ties to Chicago. Her latest book of poetry is Caulbearer. She is also one of the editors of Dear Human at the Edge of Time. 

Crystal Hana Kim wrote her novel If You Leave Me, set in Korea, while living in Chicago.

M. Evelina Galang lived in Chicago and taught at SAIC. Her short story collection When the Hibiscus Falls looks at connections among generations of women. 

Banyan: Asian American Writers Collective: Roots and Branches

Banyan founder M.G. Bertulfo will talk at the event about starting Banyan in 2017 as a way to respond to increasing racial hatred and harassment by building a stronger community of Asian American writers to tell our stories. I have been involved with Banyan from early on, and being part of the collective has inspired and enhanced my own writing and helped me build some of my strongest friendships. Banyan encourages the creativity and writing of all its participants, from children to the elderly, across ethnicities and cultures. Banyan members are also accomplished in publishing books and giving readings, with just a few examples here. Mia Manansala, author of five books in her Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries, workshopped the manuscript of what would be published as her first book, Arsenic and Adobo, at a Banyan session. Mia’s YA novel Death in the Cards will be released on May 13th, 2025. Banyan launched Samina Hadi-Tabassum’s poetry collection Muslim Melancholia, with poems ranging in topic from Rick Springfield to ghazals. Samina and Isabel Garcia-Gonzales’ flash nonfiction pieces appear in the anthology Nonwhite and Woman: 131 Micro Essays on Being in the World. Several of the writers in the above list have also had book launch events with Banyan.   

This Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, we celebrate Asian American stories and writing, and the connections and community we build by reading and writing together, and being with and listening to one another. 

Jane Hseu (she/her/hers) is Professor of English at Dominican University. Her areas of specialization include racial minority U.S. literatures, creative writing–especially creative nonfiction, and public speaking. She has published academic essays, and personal essays on funky Chinese American names, growing up in her mother’s Shiseido cosmetics store, and mental health, literature, and community. She regularly organizes literary events to bring diverse audiences together at colleges/universities, libraries, and community organizations. Jane is a member of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame's Board of Directors.