Creative Nonfiction
By the time I embraced Korean culture, it was suddenly desirable. Being Korean was cool. Having my birth culture enter the mainstream was complicated as an American-raised adoptee. I felt guilty that I didn’t know about Korean culture until it was popular and embarrassed that I didn’t grow up the child of Korean parents or with any connection to Korean culture. I felt guilty because I did not feel like I had earned the benefits of the Korean brand.
Samantha Rauer
May 11, 2021
Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Elizabeth Miki Brina's memoir, "Speak, Okinawa"
Elizabeth Miki Brina
February 28, 2021
Matthew Salesses talks to Hyphen about his new book, Craft in the Real World
Willa Zhang
January 22, 2021
When I am too tired to decipher my parents’ conversations in Filipino, I focus on how they speak. Intonations rising and falling like a tide. Enunciation everywhere, most syllables stressed. Voices raised even as they say something loving. They talk quickly, confident in their pronunciations of words that would trip up my tongue.
Isabella Peralta
January 7, 2021
Sophia Chang
December 17, 2020
Darien Hsu Gee
November 27, 2020
"When I was younger, I used to worry what people would think if they knew I was a girl who ate shrimp heads. My reluctant half slurps made me taste more air and less umami. Shame got in the way of a perfectly good meal, so I refrained from Asian foods often described as gross, weird, and foreign."
Kristen Gaerlan
September 8, 2020
“Gotta go, bye!” was just one of the many pieces of knowledge I folded into my everyday expressions after watching the latest episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The phrase was a tell-tale sign that she was up to something, a quick and finite way of removing herself from any situation to scutter off toward mischief.
An Uong
August 15, 2020
"When Ma told me about the manananggal — the vampiric monster who divided her body in half, sprouted wings and flew, hunting pregnant women and little children — I did what most kids did when their mother told them anything: I believed her."
Maria Isabelle Carlos
July 22, 2020
"For a long time, I was ashamed of myself for never being able to warm up to umeboshi."
Taylor Weik
June 18, 2020
My mother and I grew comfortable with the ease of our recycling routine, like how the lids gently flipped open to reveal the potential of money. We didn’t notice the patrol car crawling toward us one day until the police officer tapped on my mother’s shoulder, clearing his throat.
An Uong
May 20, 2020
A list of art, music and literature to get you through these stressful times.
Karissa Chen
March 15, 2020
I know this sounds like a hyperbolic way of speaking. Believe me, I wish it were.
Lisa Ann Yiling Calcasola
March 9, 2020
