These Actresses are Not Asian or Pacific Islanders

June 3, 2015June 3, 2021 Keith Chow

Depending on where you stake your claim on the internet, there has been a lot of chatter about a movie that tanked at the box office¹ and another one that isn’t due in theaters for at least another year. The thing that links these seemingly disparate films is that both thought casting white women as characters who are written as Asian American and Pacific Islander was a good idea.

Last night, the director of one of those films — Cameron Crowe — finally broke his silence and offered this explanation for why he cast Emma Stone (Amazing Spider-Man) as a character called Allison Ng:

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Ink and Ashes and Tu Books’ New Visions Award for YA Writers

June 3, 2015June 3, 2015 Constance Gibbs

This week we’re excited about two things: one is a book, the other an awesome opportunity.

For us readers: Ink and Ashes by Valynne Maetani came out this week. As a lover of mysteries as a child, I can’t wait to crack into this one!

And for us writers: the award that got Maetani published — The New Visions Award from Tu Books — also opens submissions this week! Tu Books is dedicated to diversity in genre fiction for young people and is under the banner of Lee and Low books, which publishes children’s books by authors of color. We definitely need more publishers with that goal in mind!

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