Grace Loh Prasad’s debut memoir, is The Translator’s Daughter. I spoke with her about how she started off writing it and how it evolved over the two decades it took to write it.
A lot can happen in two decades. One by one Grace started losing her family members- her brother, mother and father. Her memoir is very much about loss, not just the loss that Grace experienced of her family members, but also her lost connection to Taiwan. When Grace was just two years old her family left Taiwan and moved to the U.S. and then Hong Kong. Her parents didn’t return to Taiwan until Grace was in college in California.
I found the book moving and appreciated how Grace was able to take her grief and personal experiences and put them into this beautifully written book. If you’d like to hear Grace reading an excerpt from The Translator’s Daughter, check out the episode right before this one, episode 303.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
- What motivated Grace to start writing her memoir
- How the memoir evolved and changed over the twenty years it took to write and complete it
- What changed in her life during those two decades
- How Grace lost her brother to cancer, her mother to Alzheimer’s and father to Parkinson’s
- The challenge of maintaining a connection with Taiwan and relatives there due to language barriers
- The unconventional style of the book which is a mix of narrative chapters and essays
- Grace’s writing process and how she put the book together
- What Grace learned in the process of writing the book
- How her family’s migrations due to her father’s work affected Grace and her brother Ted
- How to find belonging in a place that you don’t intend to stay
- How Grace feels about being a third culture kid
- How much of the writing in the book comes from Grace’s diary entries
- What Grace left out of the book
- People who have reached out to Grace about her book because they knew her father and his work translating the Bible
- Grace reflects on her father’s education and career compared to her own
- How Grace’s family’s story doesn’t fit the typical immigrant or model minority story
- The op ed Grace wrote about Taiwan’s 2000 presidential election
- How important Taiwanese Americans have been in highlighting issues in Taiwan
- How Taiwan is excluded from international organizations and events like the UN, WHO, Olympics
- The authors and books that have influenced Grace
- How her book touches on mythology, film, music, and art
- Her family’s connection to the Thornberries and Milo Thornberry who wrote Fireproof Moth: A Missionary in Taiwan’s White Terror
- Grace’s advice for someone struggling with writing their first book
- Feedback and reactions that Grace has gotten to the book
- How it’s worthwhile to make the effort to pass on specific things from one’s culture or family to children or the next generation
Related Links:
The Translator’s Daughter: https://www.translatorsdaughter.com/
A review of The Translator’s Daughter: https://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/the-translators-daughter-a-memoir
An Excerpt from The Translator’s Daughter by Grace Loh Prasad Ep 303: https://talkingtaiwan.com/an-excerpt-from-the-translators-daughter-by-grace-loh-prasad-ep-303/
Third Culture Kid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_culture_kid
Grace’s Chicago Tribune article about Taiwan’s 2000 presidential election can be read here: https://www.asiancha.com/content/view/3088/666/
Kuomintang (KMT): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuomintang
Chiang Kai-shek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Progressive_Party
Chen Shui-bian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Shui-bian
Fireproof Moth: A Missionary in Taiwan’s White Terror by Milo Thornberry:
https://www.amazon.com/Fireproof-Moth-Missionary-Taiwans-Terror/dp/1934597325
Peng Ming-min: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peng_Ming-min
Learning from Peng’s declaration: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2004/09/19/2003203497
Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictee
https://www.amazon.com/Dictee-Theresa-Hak-Kyung-Cha/dp/0520261291
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Hak_Kyung_Cha
Maxine Hong Kingston: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxine_Hong_Kingston
Green Island by Shawna Ryan Yang: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101872365?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_EXYCK0K83FMC6D73ATMJ&bestFormat=true
Shawna Ryan Yang: https://www.shawnayangryan.com/
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The Golden Age of Taiwan Studies: Our Interview with University of London’s Dr. Dafydd Fell Ep 145: https://talkingtaiwan.com/the-golden-age-of-taiwan-studies-our-interview-with-university-of-londons-dr-dafydd-fell-ep-145/
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