Qian Julie Wang

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Qian Julie Wang
Born (1987-07-24) July 24, 1987 (age 34)[1]
Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
Occupationwriter, civil rights lawyer
Spouse(s)
Marc Ari Gottlieb
​
(m. 2019)​
Qian Julie Wang
Simplified Chinese王乾

Qian Julie Wang (Chinese: 王乾) is a Chinese-American writer and civil rights lawyer.

Early life[]

Wang was born in Shijiazhuang, China to academic parents.[2] Wang's mother was a professor of mathematics, while Wang's father was a professor of English and critic of the government, which led to the family being persecuted.[3][4] Wang's father fled China to the US when she was five, and her and her Mum followed two years later in 1994.[3][5] After their visas expired Wang and her family became illegal, undocumented immigrants in Brooklyn.[6] Despite living in Chinatown few other people spoke Mandarin Chinese, isolating her even among a seemingly appropriate community.[7] Unable to speak English or Cantonese, her teacher dismissively sent her to a class for the disabled.[7] As a young girl Wang worked with her mother in a clothing sweatshop alongside attending school.[3] Wang's early talents for writing were mistaken as plagiarism by an elementary school teacher.[4] After several years in the US, Wang and her mother immigrated to Canada in anticipation of better prospects.[8] Eventually they returned to America to reunite their family.[8]

Her upbringing in poverty in America (in contrast to her relatively privileged life in China) is the subject of Wang's breakout memoir Beautiful Country.[4][5]

Career[]

Wang studied at Swarthmore College, and earned her juris doctor at Yale Law School in 2012.[2][4] She worked as an associate at Kirkland & Ellis before moving to Robins Kaplan, where she was elected to partnership within two years of joining the firm.[9] Wang is managing director/partner of Gottlieb & Wang LLP, a law firm focussing on litigation for the disadvantaged.[5] She decided to start writing her memoir Beautiful Country in the wake of the 2016 US election of Donald Trump as president.[5] She had been a naturalised American citizen for six months by this time.[5] Wang wrote the book on her phone during her commute to her law offices, finishing a first draft in 2019 and publishing in 2021.[5][2] She is working on a second book inspired by her experiences as an Asian-American working in law.[2][5]

Personal life[]

Wang chose the Anglicised name "Julie" because of Asian-American puppet "Julie Woo" on The Puzzle Place.[2] Wang is Jewish, founding and leading a Jews of Color group at Manhattan Central Synagogue, as well as speaking there when her debut memoir was released on Rosh Hashanah.[10][11] Wang is married.[12]

References[]

  1. ^ Moanaco, Kathryn. "An Interview With Qian Julie Wang". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Interview: Chinese Immigrants Struggle to Belong in "Beautiful Country" | Authorlink". Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  3. ^ a b c Wang, Qian Julie (2021-10-01). "The Thread That Led Me Back: Author Qian Julie Wang On Defining Her Own Fashion". ELLE. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  4. ^ a b c d "Reviews: November/December 2021". yalealumnimagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Proudfoot, Jenny (2021-10-07). "Qian Julie Wang on her undocumented childhood, the salvation of reading and her powerful new memoir". Marie Claire. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  6. ^ Egan, Elisabeth (2021-09-07). "New to the American Melting Pot, and Finding Its Taste Bittersweet". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  7. ^ a b "Qian Julie Wang Details A Life In 'Hei' In Memoir 'Beautiful Country'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  8. ^ a b Foroohar, Rana (2021-09-16). "Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang — fear and prejudice in Chinatown". Financial Times. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  9. ^ "Author Event with Qian Julie Wang". School of Law - Northeastern University. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  10. ^ "Memoirist Qian Julie Wang Finally Found a Home With Her Fellow Jews of Color". Haaretz. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  11. ^ WashingtonOctober 6, Robin; 2021. "An immigrant child's trauma in a 'Beautiful Country'". The Forward. Retrieved 2021-12-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Reyes, Nina (2019-08-31). "She Said Yes Every Time He Asked". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
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