WednesdaY, March 18 | 8:00 – 9:00 PM ET | virtual on zoom
On Wednesday, March 18, join USCET and the 1990 Institute for a virtual book launch of Transplants, the debut novel by Asian American author Daniel Tam-Claiborne.
Tam-Claiborne spent over five years living and working in Greater China, and centers his work around identity, belonging, and the intersections of Asian American and transnational experience. A novel inspired by his Fulbright research in Taiwan, Transplants was a finalist for the 2023 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.
The novel follows two young women — Lin, a Chinese university student navigating isolation and scrutiny on a rural campus, and Liz, a Chinese American teacher grappling with grief and questions of identity — who form an unlikely friendship across borders. With lyrical prose and emotional depth, Transplants explores migration, race, power, and the fragile ties between China and the United States, offering a resonant contribution to contemporary Asian American literature.
Please join us on March 18 on Zoom from 8:00 – 9:00 PM ET. The event will feature a reading and conversation between Daniel Tam-Claiborne and award-winning author Claire Jia as they reflect on Asian American authorship, transnational identity, and the ways storytelling can illuminate connection amid division.
Speaker Biographies
Speaker
Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a multiracial writer, multimedia producer, and nonprofit director. Prior to Transplants, he authored the short story collection What Never Leaves, and his writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, HuffPost, Catapult, and elsewhere. A 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, he has also received fellowships and residencies from the U.S. Fulbright Program, Poets & Writers, and more. He serves on the Board of Directors of Seattle City of Literature.
Tam-Claiborne is also an award-winning producer for WNET, America’s flagship PBS station. He has curated community programs, screenings, and other events in partnership with cultural spaces, universities, arts nonprofits, and advocacy organizations across the country. Tam-Claiborne holds degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University, and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
Moderator
Claire Jia’s debut novel, Wanting (Tin House), was an NPR, Elle, Public Books, and Chicago Sun-Times Best Book of 2025. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Modern Love column, The Rumpus, Reductress, and more. She writes for television and co-wrote the Peabody Award-winning video game We Are OFK. Other credits include Zombies: The Reanimated Series, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, and Fresh Off the Boat. Her family is from Beijing, and nothing puts her at peace like haggling in a chaotic Beijing marketplace. She hails from the Chicago suburbs, but today she lives in Los Angeles.