And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unbreakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped something so large that failure was inevitable. And even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope?

Language is the tool of my trade -and I use them all - all the Englishes I grew up with

Can you imagine how it is, to want to be neither inside nor outside, to want to be nowhere and disappear?

I was punched breathless by the strongest emotions I have ever felt and they are now stored in my intuition as a writer.

My parents told me I would become a doctor and then in my spare time I would become a concert pianist. So, both my day job and my spare time were sort of taken care of.

People there only dream that it is China, because if you are Chinese you can never let go of China in your mind.

A Mother is the one who fills your heart in the first place.