Book Launch Reflections
I’m still on Cloud 9, days after my book launch in my ‘hood, Chinatown of Oakland, California.
William Gee Wong reads an excerpt from Sons of Chinatown at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center on March 24, 2024.
Organizers at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center had put out about 150 chairs in its auditorium. When they saw people streaming in, they had to roll out more chairs. There might have been almost 200 people in all. One attendee, a writer who has been to other book launches, told me it was among the biggest she had ever seen.
It certainly exceeded my nervous expectations. Frankly, I didn’t know what to expect since it’s been more than 20 years that I had a public book party. Adrenaline was pumping wildly.
People I knew and people I didn’t know approached me serially and in small clusters before the formal program began. They wanted to say hello and chat. A few wanted me to sign books they had already bought. Several asked to get photos taken with me.
Organizers had bought a snack for me and Harvey Dong of the Cal Asian American Studies department and proprietor with his wife Bea of Eastwind Books, once a revered Berkeley brick-and-mortar store but now exclusively online. Harvey was to be my partner-in-crime on stage, tossing me questions after I had read an excerpt from Sons of Chinatown: A Memoir Rooted in China and America. I barely had a chance to take a few bites of my cha sui bow (baked pork bun) before I had to ascend to the stage to start the program. I never got to the custard tart waiting for me.
Author William Gee Wong in conversation with Harvey Dong of Eastwind Books at Sons of Chinatown book launch event.
My remarks, Harvey’s questions and my responses to him and audience members covered about an hour. The crowd was engaged as I extemporaneously prattled on about my book’s themes and the 13-year process in finishing it.
As I attempted to leave the stage to go to the table where I’d sign books, some attendees sought my attention, including two dear friends I hadn’t seen in ages. All I could do was wave “hi,” and thank them for coming. I wish I had more time to chat.
The line was very long. I kept signing, saying a few words to each person. For some, I wrote my Chinese name too. More than a few had bought more than one book. I kept signing, smiling for photos, conversing cursorily, and signing.
William Gee Wong signs copies of Sons of Chinatown.
Just prior to the event, I told my millennial son that he might have to lead other family members to a late lunch while I stayed back to sign books. He read the crowd and signaled to me he was going to carry out our contingency plan.
I estimate the signing process took about an hour. By the time I caught up with my family at a restaurant two blocks away, they had finished eating, and the best I could do was sit down wearily to sip a cup of tea. At the moment, food wasn’t of interest.
A day or two before the event, a Chinatown friend, a well-connected businessman and community activist, emailed me that he had just finished the book and thought highly of it and wanted to buy 24 more copies – not a typo. I told him to come and buy them from Harvey and I’d sign them.
I didn’t see him and wondered what happened. Turns out he was practically next door attending a family banquet. He asked a mutual friend who was at my book launch to buy the two dozen copies and, with the help of one of Harvey’s student-helpers, hauled the books to the banquet.
That brought a broad smile to my fatigued face.