Graphic novelist and cartoonist Laura Gao joins the podcast this week to discuss her new memoir, Messy Roots: The Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese-American.  When Wuhan, China captured the world's attention as the first epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Laura penned the comic strip "The Wuhan I Know" in reaction to the disgust and racism directed toward her hometown. The comic went viral and was featured in outlets like NPR, Huffington Post, and more. The comic became the basis for Laura's graphic memoir, released earlier this month. 
 
A Wuhan native, Laura immigrated to Texas when she was four years old. Messy Roots is a wholesome and heartwarming tale of Laura's journey navigating their many ~strands and identities~ from being an immigrant, a Chinese-American, and coming out as queer in college. 

This conversation was hosted by Megan Cattel (usually the editor of this podcast!) They talk about internalized racism, coming out (or not) to family, Laura's favorite childhood memories in Wuhan (involving water buffalo), and delve into some Eileen Gu/Nathan Chen discourse.

Messy Roots: A Conversation with Laura Gao

The NüVoices podcast is hosted by NüVoices members Chenni Xu, Cindy Gao, Joanna Chiu, Sophia Yan, Jessie Lau, and Megan Cattel who explore the work of women in media, academia and the arts in Greater China, the impact of abuses of power, international and domestic politics, and their own personal stories. This podcast is wholly coordinated, produced, and edited by the NüVoices board.&nbsp;

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

In the latest episode of our series focusing on Taiwan, Solarina Ho speaks with Tuhi Martukaw, an Indigenous policy advocate, journalist, community organizer.

Solarina and Tuhi delve into what it means to be Indigenous, what reconciliation and activism look like today, as well as the communities' complicated relationship with Taiwan politics and Taiwanese settlers. Tuhi shares her own journey of how she connected with her roots and addresses some common misconceptions. We discuss the history, politics, and political structures that impacted  (and continue to impact)  Indigenous communities across the island.

Indigenous Activism in Taiwan with Tuhi Martukaw

This week, we have prolific cartoonist and illustrator Kaitlin Chan joining the podcast to discuss her recently published graphic novel, 'Eric's Sister.' Kaitlin talks about why she wanted to focus a narrative on sibling relationships, family, creative doubt, and the importance of friendship and community. This episode was hosted by Megan Cattel and produced by Kyle Leung and Megan Cattel.

Illustrator Kaitlin Chan on her graphic novel, 'Eric's Sister'

When Leta Hong Fincher’s book “Leftover Women” was first published ten years ago, it was considered a seminal work on Chinese feminism. The book outlines the structural discrimination, wholly reinforced by the government, used to demonize educated women in their late twenties and early thirties who remain unmarried. A decade later, and with Xi’s continual reinforcement of patriarchal ideals and traditional family structures, the book is more pertinent than ever.  This week on the podcast, host Jessie Lau speaks with Leta about why the book is still as relevant today and what has changed (for better and for worse) since the book was first published. Leta shares the book’s origin story and how she started researching ‘leftover women’ in the first place while pursuing a PhD at Tsinghua University. Jessie and Leta also discuss whether women in China are still facing the same immense pressure to settle down, get married, and have a family. Lastly, Leta outlines how she went about rewriting this latest edition and what topics she felt were important to include in the new preface.  



Leta Hong Fincher on the 10th Anniversary Edition of her book, Leftover Women

Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate! To kick off the year of the dragon, we have the one and only Fuchsia Dunlop on our podcast this week. She discusses her recent book, 'Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food.' 

This episode is hosted by Lijia Zhang. 

Thank you for your interest in our bimonthly, independent podcast. To support our editorial goals and help us keep producing podcast episodes, please consider donating through our Paypal page or becoming a Patreon member. We encourage listeners to send us feedback, questions, and connect with our podcast team at nuvoices@protonmail.com. 




A Conversation with Fuchsia Dunlop on her book, Invitation to a Banquet

This week, NüVoices board members and co-hosts Jessie Lau and Lijia Zhang are in conversation with Wanqing Zhang, an independent journalist, to discuss China's feminist movement taking place online. Despite formidable challenges such as censorship, harassment, and societal pressures, these feminists continue to resist patriarchal norms, as revealed in Wanqing's recent in-depth feature for Rest of World.

In the podcast episode, Wanqing shares the stories of women she spoke to regarding this latest wave of digital activism — taking place on Chinese social media platforms like Xiaohongshu. Lijia Zhang discusses how feminism in China has transformed since the early 2000s, and Jessie highlights the ongoing crackdowns on Chinese gender activism both domestically and internationally. Together, the three writers discuss how feminists are innovatively navigating recent periods of crackdowns and immense adversity.

Messy Roots: A Conversation with Laura Gao

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