Dear all,
In celebration of East and Southeast Asian Heritage Month 2025, we’re thrilled to invite you to an evening of stories, identity, and community. Join us for a special event featuring award-winning filmmaker, activist, and writer Curtis Chin, in conversation with local activist Hsien Chew, as they delve into themes from Chin’s acclaimed memoir,
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant.
Date: 25 Sep 2025 Thursday
Time: 18:00-19:00 BST
Location: Guanghwa Bookshop, 112 Shaftesbury Ave, W1D 5EJ
Set in 1980s Detroit, this heartfelt and humorous coming-of-age story takes us inside Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine - a bustling family-run restaurant that served as a rare safe haven for a divided city. From politicians and drag queens to movie stars and everyday locals, Chung’s welcomed everyone under its bright-red awning. For Curtis, it became the backdrop of his youth: a place where he navigated questions of identity, queerness, and belonging as a gay American-born Chinese boy growing up in turbulent times.
Structured around the restaurant’s beloved menu, this memoir is more than a story of food and family - it’s an invitation to consider how community spaces can shape who we are, and how we choose to live in the world.
"Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant is Chin’s story, but it’s also a love letter to the communal spaces that shape us."—TIME
FREE registration is open now through Eventbrite - please check the link below to know more information & reserve your spot!
Best wishes,
Guanghwa Bookshop