Evan Karp / March 6, 2021 / Leave a comment / Columns, Interview, NEWS, The Write Stuff

An interview with Chun Yu from The Write Stuff series:

Chun Yu is an award-winning, bilingual poet, graphic novelist, scientist, and translator. She is the author of Little Green: Growing Up During the Chinese Cultural Revolution (Simon & Schuster) and a historical graphic novel in progress (Macmillan). Little Green has won many awards and is taught in world history and culture classes. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the award-winning collection Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace; Boston Herald; Xinhua Daily; Konch; Poem of the Day (SFPL); Migozine; Catamaran; Orion; and elsewhere. She is a recipient of two San Francisco Arts Commission grants for her poetry and graphic novel projects. She is an honoree of the 2020 YBCA 100 award (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts) for creative changemakers. Her project Two Languages/One Community with poet Michael Warr brings Chinese-American and African-American communities together through poetry and storytelling. Chun holds a B.S. and M.S. from Peking University and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University in biomaterials. She was a post-doctoral fellow in a Harvard-MIT joint program. Her websites: chunyu.org  &  twolanguagesonecommunity.com.

When people ask what do you do, you tell them…?

I am a poet and graphic novelist but used to be a scientist.

What’s your biggest struggle—work or otherwise?

Being far away from my family in China.

If someone said I want to do what you do, what advice would you have for them?

Do it only if it’s a necessity for you.