Poet Nellie Wong celebrates her ninetieth birthday on September 12, 2024 with the publication of a new book of poetry, Nothing Like Freedom, Nellie’s fifth collection, after Dreams of Harrison Railroad Park (1977), Death of Long Steam Lady (1986), Stolen Moments (1997), and Breakfast Lunch Dinner (2012). “Nellie Wong at Ninety” is a digital companion project centered around nine poems, chosen by Nellie to represent each decade of her storied life, to be made openly available on Nellie’s website.
Born and raised in Oakland Chinatown, Nellie is a proud “Cheong Hay Paw,” (a hoisan-wa expression meaning “Long Steam Lady,”) an elder with much to say. But ask Nellie if she plans to write her memoirs, and she will say that she has already done so — through her poetry. Nellie’s poems document the changes that she has witnessed in her ninety years of living and serve as a record of her resistance to erasure and invisibility.
Ask Nellie about one of her poems and you might also surface an amazing back story, one of many recorded in word and deed. Maybe a tale of visiting her family village in Toisan, when she traveled to China with Tillie Olsen, Paule Marshall and Alice Walker and others in the first US Women Writers Tour to China? Performing with Nanying Stella Wong before the founding of the trailblazing Chinese American feminist writing and performance collective Unbound Feet? Memories of sophisticated showgirls at Forbidden City or the time that she met the poet Ai Qing in Chinatown? Her organizing efforts and poems delivered at rallies and marches?
2025 marks Nellie’s 50th anniversary as a published poet, with her first published works appearing in San Francisco. “We Can Always” was published in Poetry from Violence, an anthology for the 1975 San Francisco Conference on Violence Against Women. “Drums, Gongs” appeared in East/West Chinese American Journal, Vol. 10, No. 8, San Francisco, California, on February 18, 1976. Over the years, Nellie has read in Chinatown, the Sunset, North Beach, the Mission, The Tenderloin, Japantown/Fillmore, Glen Park, Noe Valley, Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhoods and more.
This project gives Nellie an opportunity to reflect upon and record the stories preserved within the golden amber of her poetry for future generations to discover. As Nellie turns ninety in 2024, marking 50 years of writing, we invite readers to join in celebrating a true Bay Area treasure.
Celebrating with “Nellie Wong at Ninety”
Asian American Literature Festival 2024, Kearny Street Workshop & Chinese Cultural Center present AALF SF Bay Area Book Fair
Saturday, September 14, 2024, 4pm – 7pm; Chinese Cultural Center, 750 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco
The Asian American Literature Festival Collective (AALFC) will be presenting Cosmic Kinship, the 2024 Asian American Literary Festival from September 14th to 22nd. This festival aims to make literature accessible to all through inclusive and hybrid events, fostering a literary constellation that spans the globe.
On September 14 from 4-7pm, Kearny Street Workshop and Chinese Culture Center hosted the first AALF SF Bay Area Book Fair to great success, helping readers discover some of the incredible emerging local authors who have released books recently! This event featured a keynote address by Nellie, and readings by participating authors.
Learn more about the 2024 Asian American Literary Festival at https://www.asianamericanliteraturefestival.org.
The Freedom Socialist Party hosts Nellie Wong’s 90th Birthday Bash
Sunday, September 15, 2024, 12:30pm – 4pm; East Bay Community Center, 507 55th St. (off of Telegraph Ave.), Oakland, California
Celebrating the birthday of Asian American poet, rabble rouser, feminist activist, revolutionary leader, and now nonagenarian Nellie Wong! Festivities include readings, tributes, music, and the release of her new book of poetry, Nothing Like Freedom.
The Freedom Socialist Party is a feminist, working-class organization made up of people of many races, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations and ages. For more information, visit the FSP website @ socialism.com