Diana Xin in conversation with Daniel-Tam Claiborne and Jane Wong

Join Diana Xin in our Readings Gallery with Daniel Tam-Claiborne and Jane Wong for a discussion about Chinese American migration, writing across two languages, and finding place between cultures.

In Book of Exemplary Women, Diana Xin's debut short story collection, women across different stages of life—and death—resist erasure and make their stories known. Contending with scorned lovers, bothersome ghosts, and their own unruly desires, these women hold the world at bay while holding each other close. They reach past geographical and generational divides to find communion and conviction.

Born in the Hebei province of China and raised in the American Midwest, Diana Xin's work appears in Electric Literature, Narrative Magazine, Gulf Coast, The Missouri Review, and elsewhere. She studied creative writing at the University of Montana and is a recipient of residencies from Hedgebrook, the M Literary Residency in Beijing, and the Sitka Center for Art. Book of Exemplary Women is her debut collection of short stories. She resides in Seattle, Washington.

Jane Wong is the author of the memoir Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City (Tin House, 2023). She also wrote two poetry collections: How to Not Be Afraid of Everything (Alice James, 2021) and Overpour (Action Books, 2016). She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships and residencies from the U.S. Fulbright Program, Harvard's Woodberry Poetry Room, Artist Trust, Hedgebrook, UCross, Loghaven, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and others. She is an Associate Professor at Western Washington University.

Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a multiracial writer, multimedia producer, and nonprofit director. He is the author of the short story collection What Never Leaves, and his writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, HuffPost, Catapult, Literary Hub, Off Assignment, and elsewhere. A 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, he has also received support from the U.S. Fulbright Program, Kundiman, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the New York State Summer Writers Institute, and others. Daniel holds degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University, and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. His debut novel, Transplants (Simon & Schuster, 2025), was a finalist for the 2023 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.

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