NEWINPAPERBACK Our Laundry, Our Town My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond

ALVIN ENG

212 pages, 51⁄2 × 81⁄2, 24 b&w illustrations

9781531504830, Paperback, $18.95 (TP), £15.99

[Hardcover edition available: 9781531500368], eBook Available

SEPTEMBER

Memoir | Asian American Studies | Theater & Performance

General Interest

With humor and grace, the memoir of a first-generation Chinese American in New York City.

“A true fixture of Flushing and NYC history, Alvin takes us from his immigrant parents’ hand laundry to the ’80s punk scene to ’90s experimental Downtown Theater, then connects it to his complicated trip back to the motherland as a ‘jook sing.’”

—KRISTINA WONG, PERFORMANCE ARTIST/AUTHOR

“Alvin Eng’s fascinating, funny, loving memoir derives its power from that key element of NYC’s dynamism and magic: Behind every apartment door and scrappy storefront lie epic tales of questing souls melding the old ways into something meaningful and new.”

—LISA KRON, TONY AWARD–WINNING PLAYWRIGHT

“Part personal journey, part historical deep dive into NYC’s Chinese community.”

—BRIAN LEHRER, WNYC/NPR

“Eng’s contentment in fully embracing his identity as both American and Chinese is full of humor and heart. His fluency across cultures—not just in New York and China but also in rock music, theatrical performance, playwriting, and journalism—lends itself to a multifaceted, engaging memoir.”

Popmatters

“I really like how he takes global, geopolitical engagements like the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance and explains how they affected his family personally.”

—ALISON STEWART, WNYC/NPR

“This new autobiography is a welcome addition to the Chinese American Toishan experience.”

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

“Alvin Eng writes passionately about his humble beginnings in the Foo J. Chin Chinese Hand Laundry in Flushing. This reflective, nostalgic book takes readers back to a very different NYC.”

—CHERYL WILLS, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1

“The book tells a moving tale of the distances that separate you from your immigrant parents, but there’s a surprising twist. The protagonist is a young punk who hates math and loves The Who.”

—KEN CHEN, AUTHOR/EDUCATOR

“An evocative perspective on the Chinese American experience.”

—HENRY CHANG, AUTHOR

“I was deeply touched, especially by the spirit parallels between the characters in Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town and the beautiful idea that his parents didn’t really see each other either. Just a beautiful book.”

—STEVE ZEITLIN, FOLKLORIST/AUTHOR

ALVIN ENG is a native NYC playwright, author, acoustic punk rock raconteur, and educator. His work has been seen Off-Broadway, in Paris, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou, China. Eng’s play Three Trees was published by No Passport Press. He is the editor of the oral history/play anthology Tokens? The NYC Asian American Experience on Stage. www.alvineng.com