My latest in the LARB: how the hukou and gaokao systems converge.

My latest review: The Room of Lost Steps by Simon Tolkien worldliteraturetoday.org/2026/march/r...

Great review by @susanbk.bsky.social of the new novel from Kristen Loesch #fiction #China #BookSky 📚💜

Happy birthday to Bernie Wong, cofounder of Chinese American Service League and the subject of @susanbk.bsky.social's biography, WHEN FRIENDS COME FROM AFAR! go.illinois.edu/f24blumberg

. @susanbk.bsky.social on @josephtorigian.bsky.social's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦’𝑠 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡: "Torigian reflects on Xi Zhongxun’s post–Cultural Revolution years—a single paragraph that encapsulates his decades-long career in the CCP..." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: chajournal.com/2025/07/16/x...

'Tender, melancholic and evocative.' Lovely review of Elisa Shua Dusapin's new novel, THE OLD FIRE (tr. by Aneesa Abbas Higgins). Thank you, SBK and @asianreviewofbooks.bsky.social ! THE OLD FIRE is out later this month and you can pre-order here dauntbookspublishing.co.uk/book/the-old...

I'll be signing books at Printers Row this Sunday! For anyone in Chicago, please stop by!

I review 3-4 dozen books for the Asian Review of Books each year and this is one of my favorites so far in 2025: asianreviewofbooks.com/rabbit-moon-...

Barbara Demick's new book is so compelling and eye-opening. Saying that I had fun reviewing it would be misleading. It's a depressing book, but one that's so important in this era of women losing our rights around the world.

I had so much fun writing this! If you love Hong Kong, crime fiction, or just a fast-paced novel full of bright lights and big cities, you'll love Rented Grave by Charles Philipp Martin. Also the other books I mention that came before his in the world of Hong Kong crime fiction.

"It was an era defined by visionary filmmakers like John Woo, Tsui Hark, and Johnnie To, who brought police dramas vividly to life on the big screen." @susanbk.bsky.social on the tradition and prospect of Hong Kong crime fiction.

@susanbk.bsky.social Congratulations!

A trip to Uruguay by @susanbk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/judithma...

“Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas’s salon is but one of the backdrops of Robert Archambeau’s new novel, an ingenious whodunit with a who’s who of 1920s Paris literati.” — @susanbk.bsky.social reviews “Alice B. Toklas is Missing” by @robertarchambeau.bsky.social evergreenreview.com/alice-b-tokl...

ICYMI: @susanbk.bsky.social discusses #AAPIMonth & her new book, WHEN FRIENDS COME FROM AFAR: The Remarkable Story of Bernie Wong and Chicago’s Chinese American Service League on @abc7chicago.bsky.social! abc7chicago.com/post/chicago...

New review at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social by @susanbk.bsky.social on a new book by Barbara Demick & the 10th anniversary reissue of one by @letahongfincher.bsky.social lareviewofbooks.org/article/daug... cc @chinarhyming.bsky.social @nuvoices.bsky.social

I am so honored to have a review in the latest issue of World Literature Today of Yardena Schwartz's brilliant book, Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2025/march/g...

So excited about this event tomorrow in Highland Park, IL!

I love all these photos of Bernardine back in Shanghai at all the places she used to frequent! A huge thanks to Historic Shanghai for taking these photos!

The audio of my new book is now available for pre-ordering. I’m so thrilled Nancy Wu is reading the audio, which comes out 11/7, the same day as the paperback. www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...

Seven more weeks until my biography of Bernardine Szold Fritz is out in the world!