Shawn Wong discovered the first Japanese American novel, No-No Boy, at a used bookstore for 50 cents, after being told by his English professors that Asian American literature didn’t exist. 

He sought out the author, John Okada, and he fought to have the book republished and distributed far and wide, to unearth the legacy of Asian American writers. But all the mainstream publishers rejected it. So Shawn started to print, distribute, and sell the novel himself with friends,often from the trunk of his car. 

The Asian American community turned up, ordering books by mail, telling their friends, and sending checks with handwritten letters- a testament to a generation hungry for their own stories.

Correction, 10:30 a.m., 6/6/2023: The audio version of this story misstates the name of the protagonist in No-No Boy. The character's name is Ichiro Yamada.

Related Links: 

• Shawn Wong
• Book notes: A talk with UW English professor, author Shawn Wong about his UW Press book series for Asian American authors

Related reading:

• Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers by Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Shawn Wong
• Toshio Mori’s Yokohama California was Ahead of its Time via International Examiner
• Hisaye Yamamoto
• Wakako Yamauchi
• Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone
• Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu
• Janice Mirikitani
• Frontiers of Love by Diana Chang
• America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
• Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle by Peter Bacho
• Dancer Dawkins and the California Kid by Willyce Kim
• Premonitions: The Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry edited by Walter Lew
• Pinoy Poetics: A Collection of Autobiographical and Critical Essays on Filipino and Filipino American Poetics edited by Nick Carbo
• The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith & Spirit edited by Leah Silvieus and Lee Herrick

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Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Taika. 

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Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.