Writers from China's diaspora
When she was studying writing at the University of Colorado, May-lee Chai remembers taking a course in which the professor 'told us that publishing is in a dismal state, that no one reads books any more, and more or less asked us, 'Why would anyone bother wanting to be a writer?''
Chai proved her erstwhile teacher wrong on all counts by going on to write. Her works include her first novel, My Lucky Face, a family memoir, The Girl from Purple Mountain, and a short story and essay collection, Glamorous Asians. Chai, 38, now teaches writing and gives her students the opposite advice to that she received.
'I tell them, 'I'm going to assume that every one of you has the potential to be a published author and that's where we work from',' she says.
The half-Chinese, half-Caucasian writer says she's stubborn, opinionated and a bit bossy. 'But then I've learnt that I have to be stubborn because from the ages of 12 to 18, people were telling me I had no right to be alive, that I should be dead,' Chai says.
'My family moved from New Jersey to a rural town in the bible belt when my father became the vice-president of academic affairs at the University of South Dakota.