Book Talk: When Friends Come from Afar

Come join us for a rare opportunity to hear author Susan Blumberg-Kason discuss her new book, When Friends Come from Afar, which intertwines the history of Chicago’s Chinese American Service League (CASL) with the illustrious life of its cofounder, Bernie Wong. This event is a collaboration between the Heritage Museum of Asian Art and Chicago Culture Village Salon 芝加哥文化村沙龙.

[Book Description] When Friends Come from Afar:

Born in Hong Kong, Bernie Wong moved to the United States in the early 1960s to attend college. A decade later, she co-founded the Chinese American Service League (CASL) to help meet the needs of the city’s isolated Chinese immigrants.

Weaving Wong’s intimate account of her own life story through the CASL’s larger history, Blumberg-Kason follows the group from its origins to its emergence as a robust social network that connects Chinatown residents to everything from daycare to immigration services to culinary education.

Blumberg-Kason also traces CASL activism on issues like fair housing and violence against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At once intimate and broad in scope, When Friends Come from Afar uses one woman’s life to illuminate a bedrock Chicago institution.

Please note events may be canceled or postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

Author Bio

Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China; Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong; and When Friends Come From Afar: The Remarkable Story of Bernie Wong and Chicago’s Chinese American Service League, of which all proceeds will go to the Pine Tree Senior Council at CASL. She is the co-editor of Hong Kong Noir and a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, Cha: An Asian Literary Review and World Literature Today. Her work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, the South China Morning Post, and PopMatters.

Accessibility

The Heritage Museum of Asian Art's Entrance is on West 35th Street. Take the elevator to the third floor and turn right to the Museum Reception Desk. Accessible and standard toilets are located on the same floor. Free parking space is available next to the museum via West 35th Street.

If you have any programming questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with info@heritageasianart.org or 312-842-8884.