Kao Kalia Yang

Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American writer. She holds degrees from Carleton College and Columbia University. Yang is the author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir winner of the 2009 Minnesota Book Awards in Creative Nonfiction/Memoir and Readers’ Choice, a finalist for the PEN USA Award in Creative Nonfiction, and the Asian Literary Award in Nonfiction. The book is a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read title and on the roster of the American Place Theatre’s Literature to Life Program. Her second book, The Song Poet won the 2016 Minnesota Book Award in Creative Nonfiction Memoir, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, a PEN USA Award in Nonfiction, and the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize. The story has been commissioned as a youth opera by the Minnesota Opera and will premiere in the spring of 2021. Yang’s debut children’s book, A Map Into the World is a American Library Association Notable Book of the Year, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book, winner of the Northstar Best Illustrator Award, and winner of the 2020 Minnesota Book Award in Children’s Literature. Her co-edited collection titled What God is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss By and For Indigenous Women and Women of Color is a groundbreaking work that centers the poetry and prose of women whose voices have been neglected and silenced on the topic despite the fact that they experience these losses disproportionately. The book was named one of the ten best books of the fall of 2019 by the Star Tribune. Yang’s newest book, The Shared Room, just came out this spring. In the fall of 2020, Yang will have two new books, a collective memoir about refugee lives titled Somewhere in the Unknown World and another book for children called The Most Beautiful Thing. Kao Kalia Yang is also a teacher and public speaker.

Twitter: @KaoKaliaYang

Instagram: @KaoKaliaYang

What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?

"With all you know about books, do I have a future in writing sexy comics?"

The answer, of course, was yes.

Favorite non-reading activity?

Walking actually. Walking through the day. Walking through the seasons. The years, really.

Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?

Pho. I prefer my sisters' versions. I make acceptable broth but nothing comparable. I season it with lots of condiments for a blend of the sweet and savory: a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of black pepper, a big squeeze of lime, a tablespoon of siricha hot sauce, hoison sauce, oyster sauce, a bit of soy sauce and fish sauce to taste, a teaspoon of homemade garlic/chili sauce. 

Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?

At least a full page. Definitely the front and back covers, the inside and outside flaps. I like context--within the book but also beyond it. 

What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?

An author is often specific to a singular body of work and a writer is the general profession. Some writers don't have any books. Authors, though, do.