Vanessa Hua
Photo by Andria Lo
Bio
For more than two decades, Vanessa Hua has been writing about Asia and the diaspora in journalism and in fiction. An award-winning columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, she’s the author of A River of Stars, a national bestseller longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize and the Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and a “best books” pick by NPR and Washington Post. Her short story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities, won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and was a finalist for the California Book Award. Honors include a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, a Steinbeck Fellowship, the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan Award, and awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association. Her work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times and the Atlantic. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she teaches at the Writers Grotto in San Francisco, Warren Wilson College, and elsewhere.
I’ve applied to the National Endowment for the Arts several times. Though I knew my odds were slim—and the rejection that arrived months later always stung—applying helped me reflect on my progress, however incremental, and chart my way forward again.
When I received the phone call, at first I thought a telemarketer was on the line. All at once I was shocked, overjoyed, grateful, and blinking back tears. I thought about the ups and downs, dead ends, and wrong turns over the years, and the friends, family, and the community of writers who have believed in me and my work.
I’ve always tried to shine a light onto untold stories, ones that reflect the world we live in, that might inspire a change in thinking and a change in action. When you deny someone their story, you deny them their humanity. At a time when immigrants and the children of immigrants are portrayed in stereotypes and statistics, stories can foster understanding, connect us with one another, and amplify and make visible those in the margins.
As a working mother, I cherish the time and freedom this grant will afford. I will scale back on my freelance work and hire additional childcare, and finish researching and revising my novel set on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. It’s been a project years in the making, as I take on the challenges of bringing to life a teenage girl from the countryside whose story is absent from the country’s official narrative.
The legacy of the Literature Fellows is inspiring, and I’m honored to continue this work. My deepest gratitude goes to the NEA staff and panelists, and for this award that encourages me to take risks and keep going.