Credit: Matt Gorrek
Press
Esmé Weijun Wang has been featured and mentioned in a number of publications and podcasts, including the New York Times, the New Yorker Online, the Washington Post, The Unmistakable Creative, The Lively Show, and Weekend Edition (NPR). She has also been heard on KCRW’s UnFictional and NPR’s Weekend Update. For media requests, please send an email to nitz@graywolfpress.org.
Media Bio
Esmé Weijun Wang is a novelist and essayist. She is the author of the New York Times-bestselling essay collection, The Collected Schizophrenias (2019), for which she won the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize, and a debut novel, The Border of Paradise, which was called a Best Book of 2016 by NPR. She was named by Granta as one of the “Best of Young American Novelists” in 2017 and won the Whiting Award in 2018. Born in the Midwest to Taiwanese parents, she lives in San Francisco, and can be found at esmewang.com and on Twitter @esmewang.
Speaking Representation
Trinity Ray, The Tuesday Agency
trinity@tuesdayagency.com • Office: 319-338-7080 • Mobile: 319-400-9031
Publicity
Caroline Nitz, Graywolf Press
nitz@graywolfpress.org
Assistant
Chloe O’Neill
chloe@esmewang.com
Tour & Events
2019
Feb 6: Event at Green Apple Books on the Park (7:30), in conversation with RO Kwon (San Francisco, CA)
Feb 7: Event at East Bay Booksellers (7:00), in conversation with Caille Millner (Oakland, CA)
Feb 12: Event at Skylight Books (7:30), in conversation with Karolina Waclawiak (Los Angeles, CA)
Feb 18: Event at McNally Jackson (7:00), in conversation with Lisa Ko (NYC, NY)
Feb 19: Event at Books Are Magic (7:30), in conversation with Alice Sola Kim (Brooklyn, NY)
Feb 21: Event at Penn Book Center with Carmen Maria Machado (6 PM), sponsored by Blue Stoop and UPenn (Pennsylvania, PA)
Feb 25: Event at The Wing DC with Tayla Burney (7 PM) for Wing members & their guests only (Washington, DC)
Feb 26: Event at Politics + Prose (7PM), in conversation with Kat Chow (Washington, DC)
March 16: Event at East Bay Booksellers (7PM), in conversation to promote Helen Oyeyemi’s Gingerbread (Oakland, CA)
March 30: SEI Library Grand Re-Opening (6-9PM), with special guests Mitchell S. Jackson and Mayor Ted Wheeler, readings by Esmé Weijun Wang, Maurice Ruffin, Natalie Diaz
April 25 – 28: Arkansas Festival of Books (Little Rock, AR)
May 8: Today Show (NBC) (New York, NY)
May 9: Asian American Writers’ Workshop (6:30 PM), (New York, NY)
May 11: Wordplay Festival (Minneapolis, MN); 12:30 PM “We Need to Talk About Mental Health,” Open Book Stage, 2nd Floor
May 13 – 15: Festival of Writing at Northwestern (Evanston, IL); May 13: (5:30 PM) Esmé Weijun Wang reading + book signing, Norris University Center, 202
May 17: Event at Women + Children First (7:00), in conversation with Eula Biss (Chicago, IL)
June 8: Stories on Stage at Pence Gallery, Davis (7:30), with Shobha Rao (Davis, CA)
June 25: Esmé Weijun Wang in conversation at Waterstones Picadilly (7 PM) (London, UK)
June 26: Esmé Weijun Wang at The Second Shelf (6:30 – 8:30 PM), in conversation with A N Devers about The Collected Schizophrenias (London, UK)
June 27: Esmé Weijun Wang in conversation with Sharlene Teo at Pages Cheshire Street (7 PM) (London, UK)
October 3: In conversation (8:15 – 9:30 AM), “Moving Beyond Labels: Let’s Reframe the Conversation” at Zarrow Mental Health Symposium (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
November 7: Esmé Weijun Wang Redefining Crazy Lunch & Learn Q&A, 2019 conference at the Mental Health Association of San Francisco (12:00 – 1:00 PM) Bespoke — Room A, 845 Market Street, Level Four (San Francisco, CA).
November 12: USC Gould’s Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics Presents “The Collected Schizophrenias” (12:15 – 1:30 PM), USC Gould School of Law, Room 7, lecture by Esmé Weijun Wang followed by a conversation with Elyn Saks (Los Angeles, CA)
December 8 – 10: Esmé Weijun Wang teaching at Antioch MFA (Los Angeles, CA)
2020
February 7 – 10: Esmé Weijun Wang at the Tin House Winter Workshop, facilitating the nonfiction workshop alongside T Kira Madden and Wendy C. Ortiz (Newport, OR)
August 10: Molly Wizenberg presents “The Fixed Stars,” with Esmé Weijun Wang with Green Apple Books
August 14: Akwaeke Emezi presents “The Death of Vivek Oji,” with Esmé Weijun Wang with The Elliott Bay Book Company
September 29: Marilynne Robinson presents “Jack,” with Esmé Weijun Wang with Community Bookstore (online event)
October 20: The Powerhouse Arena presents Virtual Paperback Launch: Make It Scream, Make It Burn by Leslie Jamison with Lynn Steger Strong, Andre Perry, Gregory Pardlo, and Esmé Weijun Wang (online event)
November 4: Breakout Nonfiction Writer Esmé Weijun Wang joins Black Mountain Institute for a reading of The Collected Schizophrenias, and a conversation on mental health and chronic illness in the time of COVID-19 (online event)
2021
Jan 19: Debutiful & Write or Die Tribe Present a Reading of New, Unpublished, and Unpolished Work Benefiting the Okra Project (7:30 PM EST), with Esmé Weijun Wang, R.O. Kwon, and Karan Mahajan (admission: $5 donation)
Press Mentions & Interviews
- Episode VII: An Interview with Esmé Wang, from the Writers on Mental Health series (0s&1s Reads)
- “Haunting, Beautifully Crafted” Essay by a Woman Who Believes She Is Dead (Knight Science Journalism at MIT)
- #NoShame in Mental Illness: A Reading List (Longreads)
- Esmé Weijun Wang on Success, Mental Illness, and Her Must-Read Debut Novel ‘The Border of Paradise” (Fusion)
- First-Time Author Overcomes Myriad Ailments and Still Finds Time to Help Others (New York Times)
- An Interview with Esmé Weijun Wang (Bookslut)
- Blank, White, Spaces: An Interview with Esmé Weijun Wang (Asian American Writers’ Workshop)
- The Inheritance of Trauma: Q&A with Adrienne Celt & Esmé Weijun Wang (ZYZZYVA)
- 9 Women Writers Who Are Breaking New Nonfiction Territory (Bustle)
- Esmé Weijun Wang Wins Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize (Graywolf)
- The Rumpus Interview with Esmé Weijun Wang (The Rumpus)
- 5 Women of Color Who Are Changing the World for the Better (BookRiot)
- Best of Young American Novelists 3, Introduction (Granta)
- Partying with a New Generation of the Best Young American Novelists (LitHub)
- Granta: Best of Young American Novelists, Third Edition (Library Journal)
- Zines Taught Esmé Weijun Wang About Herself (The Cut)
- An Interview with Esmé Weijun Wang (wildness)
- “Be patient. Keep working. Be persistent.”: An Interview with Esmé Weijun Wang (Prairie Schooner)
- Esmé Weijun Wang, Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists (video)
- Void Spotlight: Great Artist Newsletters
- Spotlight on 2018 Whiting Award Winners (Hyphen)
- 7 of the 10 Winners of This Prestigious Writing Award Are Queer! (them)
- Snow, Secrecy, & a Speech from the Queen: The 2018 Whiting Awards (Lit Hub)
- Esmé Weijun Wang Writes Through the Story (Publishers Weekly)
- Fractured Origins in Esmé Weijun Wang’s “The Collected Schizophrenias” (Los Angeles Review of Books)
- Esmé Weijun Wang on Karaoke, Work Ethic, and Returning to Fiction (Lit Hub)
- “Fear, Terror, Lost-ness”: How Esmé Weijun Wang Helps Us Understand Schizophrenia (Pacific Standard)
- Exploring Her Own Experience of Psychosis (New York Times)
- A Rope To Grab In The Chaos: Talking With Esmé Weijun Wang (The Rumpus)
- In “The Collected Schizophrenias,” Esmé Weijun Wang Map the Terrain of Her Mental Illness (The New Yorker)
- Esmé Weijun Wang: ‘I don’t want to glamorise mental illness, it inhibits creativity’ (The Guardian)
- “Schizophrenia terrifies”: How Esmé Weijun Wang Broke the Last Taboo of Mental Illness (Newstatesman)
Podcast, Radio, & TV Interviews
- The Lively Show
- Raise Your Hand, Say Yes
- The Unmistakable Creative Podcast: Rewriting Our Narratives of Brokenness
- Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette
- UnFictional (KCRW)
- Weekend Edition (NPR)
- Late Night Debut
- Dawson’s Creek with Esmé Weijun Wang (Mad Chat)
- Prioritizing Compliments Over Criticism (PBS News Hour)
- The Way We Live Now with Dani Shapiro (Episode 10)
- You, Me, Empathy
- Milestones, Change, & Celebration with Esmé Weijun Wang (Real Talk Radio Podcast)
- Stanford grad shares misdiagnosis story to help others with mental illness (TODAY Show)
- The Creativity Habit
- Dear Prudence (Slate)
- WFMA (Episode 7)
- Keep the Channel Open
- Asian Americans in the Literary World (APEX Express)
- Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette (2nd time)
- Call Your Girlfriend
- Amanpour & Company (PBS/CNN International) (TV)
- NPR Weekend Edition
- Re-thinking Mental Health: Breaking the Taboo Around Schizophrenia (BBC)
- The Maris Review Podcast (Episode 50)
