News

 

Forthcoming in 2017: my essay "A Mother's Itch for Adventure" will be published in the Travellin' Mama anthology.

 

Check out my first article published June 2016 for KQED Science's Future of You, "Epigenetics: The Woes of Your Ancestors May Remain for Generations to Come."

 

Stepping in as the new judge for the Intercultural Essay in the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition. Submissions are due each November 30th. See events page for our spring awards ceremony at the SF Main Library Koret Auditorium.

 

Evan Karp, who organizes the lit series Quiet Lightning, featured my interview and video on Litseen in March 2016.

 

**News Flash** Li received a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism for a radio documentary about farmworkers' children and the toxic effects of a World War II-era pesticide. The report was aired by National Radio Project's "Making Contact" in August, 2014.

 

Our AFT 2121 local won several communications prizes at the California Federation of Teachers convention in March 2014, including first place for the faculty newsletter that I edit, Union Action.

 

My article about Chinese farmers in Silicon Valley was published by Hyphen Magazine and picked up by Public Radio International in Feb. 2013!

 

Read Li's short story, "Counting to One Hundred," set in a Thai brothel, which received an honorable mention in the 2012 Gemini Flash Fiction contest, here.

 

As a judge for the National League of American Pen Women's annual Soul-Making Contest, Tara Masih has collected the winning Intercultural Essays in The Chalk Circle (May 2012). My essay "If Grandmother Had Married a Peasant" is among the prizewinners gathered for the first time in this ground-breaking anthology. And Grandma's photo is on the cover's collage! Check it out here.

 

I recently spoke at Sierra Nevada College about In the Lap of the Gods, and offered my reflections on China's environmental challenges and its dam building frenzy. Watch the video here.

 

Ever wonder what would happen if your parents had married someone else? "If Grandmother Had Married a Peasant" takes it a step further, blending real-life memories with fantasies of an alternate past. The essay was a top-five finalist in A Room of Her Own Foundation's 2011 Orlando Prize.

 

The Chinese government finally acknowledged in May that the Three Gorges dam presents serious environmental problems; check out coverage in the Washington Post. Read Li’s op-ed about the social impacts of the dam in New America Media.

 

In the Lap of the Gods is featured in Epoch Times, a progressive Chinese American periodical, and a newscast from NTDTV. Watch the video here – in Mandarin Chinese.

 

Can we afford to lose our print books? I make The Case for Paper in my radio essay — digital media are too fragile to entrust the preservation of knowledge. Check out the commentary aired February, 2011 on KQED, a leading NPR station.

 

"Small Loans Have Big Impact on Local Businesses" appeared in the Bay Citizen and SF Public Press, highlighting the impact of microloans in boosting small businesses here in the U.S.

 

"Tenrikyo - Ritual and Reason," has been awarded 9th Place in the Inspirational Writing category of the 79th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. While soul searching in Japan, I learned some unexpected lessons from elderly women on the spiritual path.

 

I've been working with the National Radio Project on their flagship program, Making Contact, heard on 200 stations in and beyond the U.S. It’s a weekly radio show with in-depth coverage of social and political issues. Listening to Making Contact is like reading a good book – with sound effects.

Check out my segment about entrepreneurs who are surviving - and thriving - in this recession, thanks to nonprofits and microlenders. The show aired August 11, 2010 as part of the "How We Survive" series.

 

Check out my digs for the summer at the San Francisco Writers' Grotto, a community of authors and artists. We’re here to work on our writing projects.