Asian Pop-up Cinema opening night

September 17, 2015 By Susan Blumberg-Kason Leave a Comment

How lucky was I to be invited to the opening night of Asian Pop-up Cinema in Chicago yesterday? Very! The brainchild of Sophia Wong Boccio, Asian Pop-up Cinema is a series of Asian films that will be screened in the Chicago area this fall–and beyond.

The cocktail reception took place at Lao Szechuan on North Michigan Avenue. I was invited by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York and brought my oldest son Jake and my mom along. The place was hopping and I wish I had taken more photos inside, including group shots with friends and family against this backdrop.

But I was too busy talking and then listening to the opening remarks before we adjourned to the movie theater down the street. I did manage to get this photo just inside the restaurant (which is quite beautiful inside).

Once we made it to the theater, a raffle was drawn for two round-trip tickets to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, a proud sponsor of Asian Pop-up Cinema. I didn’t win, but it was still super exciting to have such a high-stakes raffle.

The movie shown last night was Hong Kong director Pan Ho-Cheung’s Women Who Flirt.

The movie was so much fun and appealed to people from all backgrounds. My 17 year old son enjoyed it as did my mom and I. A rom-com set in Shanghai and Taipei, it was in Mandarin with English and Chinese subtitles.

And if that wasn’t fabulous enough, as we exited the theater, each attendee received a gift bag! I love gift bags, especially when they’re Hong Kong-centric. This one included a Cathay Pacific bag and luggage tag, a picture holder from the HK Economic and Trade Office, and a $25 gift card to the Asian restaurant, Sunda. So much fun!

For the fall schedule of Asian Pop-up Cinema in Chicago, check out their website here.

Sophia’s Choice, the organization that created Asian Pop-up Cinema, will be holding the first ever Asian Film Festival in Chicago in the spring of 2017!

Catch an Author book fair

September 13, 2015 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 3 Comments

Yesterday I participated in my first ever book fair with Good Chinese Wife! I also met my new editor for Good Chinese Wife before the fair. It was really great to get to know Anna and learn all about her forthcoming YA novel, 26 Kisses (Simon Pulse, 2016). I can’t wait to read it!

After meeting Anna, I headed to the author fair, which was held at the stunning, new Aurora Public Library about an hour outside Chicago. I was one of dozens of participating authors. Check out my table display.

My publisher, Sourcebooks, had a fabulous table of give-aways. Yes, all of these books were out for people to take (I got three myself!).

Beth and Alex, both in marketing at Sourcebooks, came by my table to say hi. I’d met Alex at another Sourcebooks’ author event last year, but hadn’t met Beth before. I love their enthusiasm and friendliness.

I found my way to this fair thanks to the generosity of author Sonali Dev, whose new book, The Bollywood Bride (Kensington, 2015), comes out later this month.

Here I am with Sonali!

The other author I knew at the fair was agent-sister Brianna DuMont, whose must-read middle grades non-fiction book Famous Phonies (Sky Pony Press, 2014) came out last fall and whose next book, Fantastic Fugitives (Sky Pony Press, 2016) comes out this January. I was so excited to meet Brianna’s new baby!

Sitting next to me was Karen Boncela, who I met for the first time yesterday. Karen is also a memoirist who has written about her abusive first marriage in Dark Secrets No More (Purple Knight Press, 2014) and her new marriage to her lovely husband, Eddie, in Words to Love By (Purple Knight Press, 2012). I really enjoyed talking to them and learning about her writing process and Eddie’s past life as a New York City policeman. We reminisced about Times Square in the mid-90s (which is featured my memoir!).

On the other side of my table was Bibi Belford, the author of MG novel, Crushed and Canned (Sky Pony Press, 2015). We had a nice chat about writing and Chicago before the event started.

It was great seeing and meeting all these publishing professionals. I also loved talking to readers and learning their stories. A huge thank you to Becky Clark at the Aurora Public Library for putting it all together!

New York spring book tour

April 26, 2015 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 2 Comments

I just came back from three days in New York, where I took part in three book events, saw old friends, and spent a leisurely day with my brother.

My first event was in Park Slope at PowerHouse on 8th. If I were to open a bookstore, this is what I’d want it to look like. PowerHouse on 8th is cosy, warm, and set up nicely with adult books in front and a gorgeous selection of kids books in back.

I love the chalkboard announcement for my reading.

Here I am with my brother Jonathan, who arranged the reading. He used to live in Park Slope, the neighborhood where PowerHouse on 8th is located, and still has many friends there, including the owners of the store.

With Jonathan and his friends after the reading. We had a fun discussion before taking this photo.

The next day I rented a car and drove up to Connecticut for two events. The first was the annual American Association of University Women’s author luncheon held at a country club in Darien.

With 200 attendees, the luncheon featured three authors: Susan Minot, Karen Page, and me. The women–authors and all–were extremely warm and welcoming, which really makes all the difference when you are new to an area and don’t know a soul.

My last event was an evening presentation at the Norwalk Public Library. This was the one I figured would have a low attendance. I didn’t know anyone in Norwalk, which is usually something new authors want to avoid.

But boy was I pleasantly surprised when around 20 people showed up! They asked thought-provoking questions that put my knowledge of Chinese history to test.

Book touring might seem glamorous and exciting. It is, but it’s also nerve-wracking and scary. Will I be able to get to all my events on time? Will the ZipCar be there when I need it? What if no one shows up? What if no one buys any books?

It’s a big investment in time and money, and the logistics that go into arranging a book tour aren’t always easy. My husband had to take three days off from work to take care of our kids. There are flight, ground transportation, and other expenses that add up quickly.

But to me it’s all worth it and more. When the story in my book starts out, I’m shy and prefer to be alone. Now I’ve found that my favorite thing about writing a book is going out and meeting new people, getting out of my comfort zone, and taking chances.

Return to Hong Kong, Day 4

October 21, 2014 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 2 Comments

For our last day in Hong Kong, Tom and I met my friends Erica and Jacqueline to tour the Western District. This is another area we didn’t see on our trip to Hong Kong two years ago. We took a short tram ride from Central to Western Market.

Street art.

Once we started walking, we set our sights on a famous bamboo store on Western Street. On the way, we visited a wet market.

Although this area is gentrifying, there are still some great sights.

And some colorful streets and signs.

The bamboo store did not disappoint! I bought trivets, mini bamboo steamers, and mooncake presses. Erica and Jacqueline purchased things there, too!

We enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the IFC, where Tom and I were to meet some friends for lunch.

Coincidentally, our lunch venue was adjacent to Dymock’s, one of Hong Kong’s largest bookstores. Jacqueline and Erica asked the store if they had Good Chinese Wife–and they did! So I signed all six copies, which were later put on a special display with an “Autographed by Author” sticker! It was so much fun to do this impromptu book signing.

That evening Tom and I headed to Prince’s Building for the final book event–the launch party for an anthology I contributed to: How Does One Dress to Buy Dragonfruit? True Stories of Expat Women in Asia (Signal 8 Press, 2014), edited by Shannon Young. It was held at Bookazine.

I even sold all these copies of Good Chinese Wife!

The post-party moved up to Sevva, the restaurant/bar on the rooftop of Prince’s Building. Check out these stunning views!

Tom and I took a tram home–the first time that was possible during our trip thanks to the removal of some blockades at Occupy–and packed for the next day.

We would leave Hong Kong 12 hours later.

Return to Hong Kong, Day 2

October 19, 2014 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 1 Comment

On our second day in Hong Kong, I brought Tom to the Jewish cemetery, which wasn’t too far from our hotel. To get there, we walked past cemeteries of all the major religions. The Muslim cemetery was across from our hotel.

We also passed a Catholic cemetery and a Parsee cemetery.

When we arrived at the Jewish cemetery, though, my heart raced as I realized the gate was locked and there was no trespassing tape on one of the gate doors. Panic set in. Luckily there was a school next door that seemed to be open.

So I walked into the school yard and with mangled Cantonese and Mandarin, managed to find out that the gates are usually locked. The nice receptionist at the school allowed me to use her phone to call the number on the Jewish cemetery’s front sign. And it worked! A man answered and said he would open it immediately.

The cemetery is a place I’d first visited in the mid-90s, thanks to my friend Annie. Later I would take friends and family from out of town. I hadn’t been back for 17 years.

Tom and I spent maybe 30 minutes here, taking photos and marveling at the diverse background of the people buried there. Some were born in Asia, others in Europe and Russia (pre-Soviet Union). Some must have passed through Shanghai during the war, but there was no way to know that from the headstones.

We left the cemetery and walked back to the tram line, taking in the surroundings.

Here’s the hotel where we stayed. Its background is fascinating–it used to house the New China News Agency, which was the de facto Chinese consulate during the British colonial times!

Once on the tram, which was only running a limited route around Happy Valley and a little of Causeway Bay, we sat back and enjoyed the view from above.

Since we’d indulged in the hotel’s buffet that morning, we skipped lunch and walked around Central (the tail end of the Occupy area), took the Star Ferry, and spent the afternoon in Tsim Sha Tsui with my friend Vanessa.

We raced back to the hotel to change and pick up a few things before heading off to the stately Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Central for my talk with the Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society. Author and friend Shannon Young organized the event and introduced me. Shannon has a must-read Hong Kong memoir out at the end of the month titled Year of Fire Dragons (Blacksmith Books, 2014)!

After my talk, Shannon presented me with a bottle of South African wine that Tom can’t wait to pop open. (I had him promise to wait until Thanksgiving when we will host 30 people at home; it’ll make for interesting conversation!) I signed many books and enjoyed talking to old friends and meeting new ones.