Community event with author Curtis Chin

Naperville's Chinese American Women in Action (CAWA), North Central College, Naperville Bank & Trust, and Anderson's Bookshop are proud to present a reception and presentation with celebrated author and filmmaker Curtis Chin to discuss his new memoir Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. The event will be held at the Wentz Concert Hall on the campus of North Central College (171 E Chicago Ave in Naperville).

VIP tickets include a copy of the book, and admission to author reception from 6:00 - 6:45 pm and the book talk from 7:00 - 8:00 pm. Your book will be available for pick up at the event.

Free General Admission tickets include admission to the book talk from 7:00 - 8:00 pm.

There will be a book signing after the presentation, and copies of the book will be available to purchase on-site.

About the Author: 

A cofounder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the nonprofit’s first executive director. He went on to write for network television before transitioning to social-justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over six hundred venues in sixteen countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appétit, and the Boston Globe’s Emancipator. A graduate of the University of Michigan and a former visiting scholar at New York University, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and more. He can be found at CurtisfromDetroit.com. 

More about Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant:  

This “vivid, moving, funny, and heartfelt” memoir tells the story of Curtis Chin’s time growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980’s Detroit (Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers).

Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone—from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples—could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, beneath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city’s spiraling misfortunes; and where—between helpings of almond boneless chicken, sweet-and-sour pork, and some of his own, less-savory culinary concoctions—he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, to his beloved family, and to himself.

Served up by the cofounder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and structured around the very menu that graced the tables of Chung’s, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant is both a memoir and an invitation: to step inside one boy’s childhood oasis, scoot into a vinyl booth, and grow up with him—and perhaps even share something off the secret menu.

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An important note about your tickets:

To expedite the check-in process, please have your ticket(s) with the QR code(s) pulled up on your phone or printed out when you come to the event. Please check your confirmation, open the PDF with the ticket/QR code and reprint if needed from the EventCombo website or app.

Please read these Event Policies carefully:

The event coordinator reserves the right to change the format of this event to a virtual one at any time if it becomes necessary. Please be advised that Anderson’s Bookshop, CAWA, North Central College, and Naperville Bank & Trust assume no responsibility or liability for any personal injury or other loss you may incur as a result of your decision to attend an event, including the transmission of Covid-19 or related illnesses. We expect that for the protection of everyone, all applicable Covid-related protocols will be followed.  Failure to treat all participants with courtesy and respect may result in your expulsion from the event.