Cover and Interior Illustrations for the University of Washington: Viewpoint Magazine
Finding the Words: UW Press celebrates “Aiiieeeee!” and a 50-year legacy of Asian American literature
By Shin Yu Pai
Spring 2024
Read the issue here
“In 1970, when Shawn Wong was 19 and a student at the University of California at Berkeley, he had to go hunting for Asian American literature on the street.
An English professor told him no such literature existed. But Wong and his friends and fellow writers, Jeffery Paul Chan, Frank Chin and Lawson Fusao Inada, knew that wasn't true. They had connected over a shared quest to discover Asian American literature.”
“Their radical undertaking culminated in ‘Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers’. This year, ‘Aiiieeeee!’ turns 50.”
“‘Aiiieeeee!’ became a foundational text in Asian American Literature, and its editors were credited for both rescuing stories out of time and open-ing readers to a diversity of voices and experiences from the Asian American community. The anthology’s 14 pieces range from the 1940s to the 1970s, ending in a time when activists and scholars were challenging stereotypical representations and expectations of the Asian American voice and experience to highlight neglected perspectives and more freshly define the culture.
“Today, the UW is steeped in the legacy of their groundbreaking work. A wealth of modern Asian American literary voices includes UW alumni and scholars who studied Asian American literature, English literature and ethnic cultural studies.”
