Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai
Society & Culture
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.
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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.
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