Hua Hsu

Hua Hsu(born 1977)is an American writer and academic, based inNew York City.He is a professor of English atBard Collegeand a staff writer atThe New Yorker.His work includes investigations of immigrant culture in the United States, as well as public perceptions of diversity andmulticulturalism.He is the author ofA Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific.His second book,Stay True: A Memoir,was published in September 2022.

Hua Hsu
Born	1977 (age 46–47) Champaign–Urbana,Illinois
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley Harvard University
Occupation(s)	Professor,writer
Employer(s)	Bard College The New Yorker
Notable work	A Floating Chinaman Stay True

Early life

A second-generationTaiwanese American,Hsu was born in 1977 inChampaign-Urbana,Illinoisbefore moving toPlano,thenRichardson, Texas.His family moved to southern California,then ultimatelyCupertino, California,where his father was an engineer; his mother stayed at home with Hua.The family lived in Cupertino from about the time Hua was 9 to 18, though his father moved to Taiwan to pursue work and Hua often spent summers and other school vacations there.

Hsu attended college at theUniversity of California, Berkeley,where he studiedpolitical science.He graduated in 1999.He next attendedHarvard Universityto studyAsian-American literature,earning a PhD in the History of American Civilization in 2008.Louis Menandadvised his dissertation,titledPacific Crossings: China, the United States, and the Transpacific Imagination.

Career

Hsu was a tenuredassociate professorof English and director ofAmerican StudiesatVassar Collegeuntil 2022, when he became professor of English atBard College.Since 2017, he has also been a staff writer atThe New Yorker.His work includes investigations of immigrant culture in the United States, as well as public perceptions of diversity andmulticulturalism.Other research work and interests include studies ofliterary historyandarts criticism.

Hsu has been a fellow atNew America,apublic policythink tankand a contributor toThe New Yorker,The Atlantic,Slate,andThe Wire.His 2012 essay forLucky Peachabout suburban Chinatowns was nominated for a 2012James Beard Awardfor food writing.He is a board member of theAsian American Writers' Workshop.His book,A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific,was published in June 2016 byHarvard University Press.He was a 2016 National Fellow for the New America Foundation.

Hsu's second book,Stay True: A Memoir,about an important friendship he had while in college, was published byDoubledayon September 27, 2022. It received a starred review inPublishers Weekly.Jennifer Szalai ofThe New York Timeswrote, "Hsu is a subtle writer, not a showy one; the joy of 'Stay True' sneaks up on you, and the wry jokes are threaded seamlessly throughout."The book was named one of the "10 Best Books of 2022" byThe New York TimesandThe Washington Post.The book won the 2023Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiographyand the 2022National Book Critics Circle award in autobiography.

Personal life

Hsu lives inBrooklyn.He is married with a son.

Bibliography

Books

• Hsu, Hua (2016).A floating Chinaman: fantasy and failure across the Pacific.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP.
• — (2022).Stay true: a memoir.New York: Doubleday/Knopf/PRH.

Essays and reporting

• Hsu, Hua (January–February 2009)."The end of White America?".U.S.The Atlantic.
• — (April 18, 2012)."All hail the chairmen: Jonathan Olivares's 'Taxonomy of Office Chairs'".Los Angeles Review of Books.
• — (September 5, 2012)."Michael K. Williams reveals his Omar Mix".Vulture.
• — (December 13, 2012)."Wokking the Suburbs".Lucky Peach.
• — (September 26, 2014)."The Simpsons go to China".Currency.The New Yorker.
• — (October 16, 2014)."Before gentrification, a city covered in graffiti".Cultural Comment.The New Yorker.
• — (December 1, 2014)."The civility wars".Cultural Comment.The New Yorker.
• — (February 22, 2016)."A god dream: Kanye West unveils a new album, 'The Life of Pablo'".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.92(2): 66–68.
• — (March 7, 2016)."The struggle: Macklemore wrestles with his place in hip-hop".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.92(4): 70–71.
• — (July 25, 2016)."Pale fire: is whiteness a privilege or a plight?".The Critics. A Critic at Large.The New Yorker.92(22): 63–66.
• — (September 21, 2016)."The Critic Who Convinced Me That Criticism Could Be Art".The New Yorker.
• — (October 3, 2016)."Bon Iver's new voice".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.
• — (January 4, 2017)."Listening to George Michael in Taiwan".Cultural Comment [web only].The New Yorker.
• — (April 24, 2017)."Praise songs: Alice Coltrane in Sanskrit".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.93(10): 98–99.
• — (May 1, 2017)."Legacy media: Kendrick Lamar's sense of debt to those who came before".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.93(11): 74–75.
• — (September 18, 2017)."Rostam Batmanglij defines his musical identity".Pop Music.The New Yorker.
• — (December 4, 2017)."Forward march: Bjõrk's visions of the future".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.93(39): 62–64.
• — (May 20, 2019)."Machine yearning: Holly Herndon's search for a new art form for our tech obsessions".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.95(13): 83–84.
• — (December 9, 2019)."Burial's Search for Fleeting Moments".Pop Music.The New Yorker.
• — (January 6, 2020)."Exclude me in: in the seventies, a group of Asian–American writers decided it was their turn".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.95(43): 58–63.
• — (September 21, 2020)."The musical monk: rediscovering Beverly Glenn-Copeland's inward-looking sounds".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.96(28): 59–60.
• — (December 21, 2020)."Whims: Paul McCartney's surprisingly playful pandemic album".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.96(41): 80–81.
• — (January 25, 2021)."Sound design: the obsessive beat-making of Madlib".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.96(45): 72–73.
• — (April 5, 2021)."Game over: how athletes began telling a new story about sports".The Critics. Podcast Dept.The New Yorker.97(7): 63–65.
• — (September 20, 2021)."Listening tour: Saint Etienne's nostalgic, time-travelling sounds".The Critics. Pop Music.The New Yorker.97(29): 78–79.
• — (August 22, 2022)."My dad and Kurt Cobain: alternative culture and a fax machine bridged an ocean".Personal History.The New Yorker.98(25): 24–29.

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Notes

See also

• Chinese people in New York City
• New Yorkers in journalism
• Taiwanese people in New York City
• The Hanging on Union SquarebyH. T. Tsiang,whom Hsu refers to inA Floating Chinaman.

External links

• Personal site