Yang Huang
Yang Huang grew up in China and has lived in the United States since 1990. Her novel MY GOOD SON won the University of New Orleans Publishing Lab Prize. Her linked story collection, MY OLD FAITHFUL, won the Juniper Prize, and her debut novel, LIVING TREASURES, won the Nautilus Book Award silver medal. The New York Times said, “As with her previous books, ‘Living Treasures’ and ‘My Old Faithful,’ Huang’s latest explores the generational push-pull of family life in post-Tiananmen China.” She works for the University of California, Berkeley and lives in the Bay Area with her family.
Twitter: @yangwrites
Instagram: @yanglindahuang
Favorite non-reading activity?
Walking or hiking, and exploring nature. I want to feel my own smallness. Being in nature allows me to find peace that is not inside my mind. Everything will work out no matter how difficult or chaotic my writing or life gets.
Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
I prefer savory, although I love chocolate and ice cream. I am also addicted to collard green; it improves my mood and gives me a sense of well-being. I used to cook better than my husband, but now he makes mouthwatering fried fish and shrimps. Food inspires my writing, because in Chinese culture “food is heaven.” I’m a voracious eater and always want to try new dishes. In writing, I can savor the flavors and be satiated, rather than glut myself with it.
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?
Occasionally, but never in writing. In real life, I can put on a front when necessary. But, I am fiercely honest in writing. I write fiction in order to unearth emotional truth—I am serious about that.
Do you speak a second language? Do you think differently in that language? Does it influence your writing?
My native language was Mandarin Chinese. English is my second language. I think more cautiously in Chinese, yet write with more angst because of the censorship. I only write personal essays in Chinese. If I need to tell a story in Chinese, I conceive it in English and then translate it into Chinese in order to free myself from the internal censorship. I wrote about my tortuous relationship with my mother tongue in “Why I Write in English.”
What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
In writing I function as a medium to let the story emerge from my subconscious. I go to my writing cave—a desk behind a locked door—and enter a mental space where imaginary characters can come out and play. Being an author has an active business side of it. I come out of my cave and stand in front of an audience to interpret my story for them. I tell myself I am offering a gift for my readers with love. It’s easier to return to my writing cave, because the story beckons.
