Fae Myenne Ng interviewed by Don Swaim on February 10, 1993

Fae Myenne Ng interviewed by Don Swaim on February 10, 1993

Ng, Fae Myenne, 1956

Swaim, Don

1993-02-10

Fae Myenne Ng, author of Bone, speaks with Don Swaim in this 1993 interview about her early life and her move to become a writer. Ng is a first-generation Chinese-American born and raised in Chinatown in San Francisco. This close-knit community is where she learned about the opportunities available to her as an American, but she also learned about the fears, the degradation and the discrimination that she may face. Bone is a novel full of symbolism. It's about a woman, based on her mother, who left her culture and her country for the future of her family. Ng wanted to write about the type of woman who could make due with what she had -- a common feature for women at this time. Bone exemplifies the closed environment in the Chinese communities. "It was like a glass globe," Ng said. She could see all the possibilities outside of her small world, but it took so much courage for her to leave it. Ng is looking to continue the saga of the family in Bone in her next novel.

Ohio Digital Network

English

http://media.library.ohio.edu/cdm/ref/collection/donswaim/id/3342