Writing Podcast Episode 694: Candice Chung and her book, ’Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You’

How do you go about writing a personal memoir that heavily features your very-much-alive parents? Author Candice Chung grappled with this and her culturally private family while curating her book, Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You. In this episode, she joins us to discuss the inspiration for a book that uses food as a storytelling device, some of the rituals around dining and the story behind the title of her book!

00:00 Welcome
07:10 Writing tip: Developing your own editing checklist
12:44 WIN!: How to Live an Artful Life by Katy Hessel
14:17 Word of the week: ‘Anhedonia’
14:49 Writer in residence: Candice Chung
15:05 Writing about food rituals
17:25 Inspiration for writing the book
20:20 Selling the book to publishers
22:15 The story behind the title
26:29 Telling parents about the book
31:33 Fact checking emotional details
34:05 Grappling with sharing personal thoughts
38:20 Why Candice decided to get into journalism
42:37 The ‘frozen sandwiches’ anecdote
44:21 Literary inspirations for the book
49:24 Future projects
51:14 Final thoughts

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