Kingston’s work has shaped or even launched half a century of Asian American literature and literary studies, while inspiring feminist thinking across disciplines. This event opens a retrospective on her two most influential books (The Woman Warrior and China Men) first and foremost by asking the legendary author to talk-story: to share reflections/backstories on the writing of these texts and the (family) life circumstances leading up to and away from their publications. These talk-stories may be accompanied by a slideshow of photographs, and those photographs themselves may inspire talk-story. Following that presentation, Kingston will be interviewed by erin Khue Ninh: professor and chair of Asian American studies and a scholar and student, both, of Kingston. The conversation will weave between questions of writing and biography, feminism and activism, field-defining and evergreen topics such as intergenerational conflict and mental health, and what it has been like to be Maxine Hong Kingston.