Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant : A Memoir (Curtis Chin)

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.

An American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book—Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award
A 2024 Michigan Notable Book
Best Nonfiction Books of the Year—Kirkus Reviews
Best Books of the Year—Apple Books
 
TIME’s Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2023 • San Francisco Chronicle’s Highly Anticipated Books to Put on Your Radar This Fall 2023 • Washington Post’s Books to Read This Fall 2023 • Eater’s Best Food Books to Read 2023 • Lambda Literary Review’s October’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature

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.

• Indie Focus Title 
• Indie bookstore galley mailing
• National publicity and review campaign
• National advertising campaign
• Digital and social media advertising campaign
• Select author appearances
• Digital marketing and publicity campaign
• Early consumer giveaways via Goodreads
• Consumer sweepstakes
• Reading Group Guide Available
• Social media campaign
• Blogger and social influencer campaign, including mailing with special promo items
• eNewsletter campaign, including features in Little, Brown enewsletter (over 60,000 subscribers
• Book club outreach, including features in Little, Brown Book Club Hub (over 46,000 subscribers)
• Outreach to AAPI and LGBTQIA+ organizations and brands for cross-promotions and features 
• Targeted influencer and bookseller outreach
• Digital assets including graphics, recipe cards, and video
• Author video

 

UNIQUE IN ITS CATEGORY: While there have been huge memoirs that touch on the experiences of Asian Americans and the LGBTQ+ community, Chin’s memoir explores both—along with some wonderful descriptions of food—in a hopeful, brash, and inquisitive exploration of identity and coming of age.

CURTIS'S HISTORY *IS* AMERICAN HISTORY: As a fourth-generation Chinese American, Curtis’ family has seen a lot. And has mourned a lot—Curtis saw the decline of Detroit’s Chinatown and counted Vincent Chin as a family friend. This memoir gives us a firsthand glimpse of a truly American upbringing that is only now starting to be explored in the mainstream.

WELL-CONNECTED: As a writer and documentary filmmaker, Curtis will tap into his multiple communities in his time in politics, film, education, and nonprofit writing organizations around the US to promote and market this book.