I then was thrilled to discover her more recent biographies for children-books I wish I’d had growing up. When Electric Literature asked Twitter followers to share the first book they’d read by an Asian American author during APA heritage month, I realized my answer was Louie’s Yeh-Shen. It includes biographies on Vera Wang, Yo-Yo Ma and his sister Yeoh-Cheng Ma, astronaut Kalpana Chawla, and most recently, U.S.

Between 20, she ultimately self-published the series under her own Dragoneagle Press. Louie switched gears to publish the legend of Yeh-Shen, but remained determined to see her passion project through. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College (where she and Vera Wang were the only Chinese Americans in their class of ’71), and Wheelock College, Louie aimed to write children’s books about successful, modern-day Asian Americans, but no publishers were interested. As an Asian American author who came of age during the ‘60s, her trials and tribulations are a sharp contrast to the creative careers of many Asian American artists working today. Like the legend of Yeh-Shen, Ai-Ling Louie’s career has lived in the shadows of children’s book publishing.

Ai ling louie