Oh, the Humanity: Grace Lin on Art and the Human Experience

The Reading Culture

On Today's Show

• " Creating something is not just for people to view, but it's for the creator. It's that idea that when you create, it puts you more in touch with your humanity and that being in touch with your humanity is what you are giving through your artwork. " - Grace Lin
  
  

For Grace Lin, the value in literature comes from its ability to allow you to understand other humans and get in touch with your own humanity. But this value isn't just from reading. As a writer, she recognizes the change that the artist goes through in the process of creating. In her own experience, the process of writing has allowed her to understand and feel comfortable with her Asian-American identity, which in turn has helped her in making content for other young Asian-Americans who are struggling in the same ways she used to.

It's these experiences and understandings that have contributed to her passion for keeping humanity in writing and fighting for that access. That's why she has so eloquently spoken about the importance of reading other perspectives despite potential initial discomfort in her apt metaphor of putting on a new pair of glasses. In this episode, she'll take us through all of that and more.

Contents

Chapter 1 - ThE LeEtal hOuSe (2:29)

Chapter 2 - Bees for Betsy, but not for Grace (3:50)

Chapter 3 - For those to come (5:24)

Chapter 4 - The Search for Delicious (7:22)

Chapter 5 - The thousand-dollar dandelion (11:24)

Chapter 6 - New Glasses (16:17)

Chapter 7 - The art of effort (22:55)

Chapter 8 - Chinese Menu (29:20)

Chapter 9 - New Faces, Familiar Places (33:00)

Chapter 10 - Beanstack Featured Librarian (34:38)

This episode's Beanstack featured librarian is Jenny Lee Ryan, the Program Coordinator for Farmington Public Library in New Mexico. Listen to the end to hear some of her best tips for getting readers engaged in their programming.

Links

• https://gracelin.com/
• https://thereadingculturepod.com/grace-lin
• https://www.fmtn.org/192/Library
• https://beanstack.com