Christopher John Stephens

1 week ago | sampan.org | Christopher John Stephens

The triple threat Venn Diagram bubbles of race, class, and social identity have conspired to define us as a nation since our founding. As we sit on the eve of our Bisesquicentennial in 2026, Americans are more divided and disturbed than ever before. Who are we? What have we become? Is this the legacy we really want to leave behind for our children? The much discussed (but never fully owned) “Project 2025” has planted seeds and borne fruit in the first quarter of this year.

1 month ago | sampan.org | Christopher John Stephens

Writer Lu Xinhua was just 24-years old in 1978 when he published his breakthrough short story, “The Scar.” Written while a freshman at Fudan University, “The Scar” examined the traumatic legacy of the Cultural Revolution and the decisive, imperious rule of the Gang of Four. In the wake of Mao’s death, China found itself at a crossroads.

1 month ago | sampan.org | Christopher John Stephens

The works of bestselling novelist and Cambridge resident Celeste Ng are perhaps more relevant now than ever. Her 2014 work, Everything I Never Told You, looked at the secrets and desires swirling in a Chinese-American family in Ohio during the 1970s. Her Little Fires Everywhere, which she penned in 2017, raised the stakes with the story of a mother and daughter when they intruded on the lives of a “perfect” family in late 1990s Ohio.

1 month ago | asianamericans.einnews.com | Christopher John Stephens |Kristen Si |Yolanda Zhang

The works of bestselling novelist and Cambridge resident Celeste Ng are perhaps more relevant now than ever. Her 2014 work, Everything I Never Told You, looked at the secrets and desires swirling in a Chinese-American family in Ohio during the 1970s. Her Little Fires Everywhere, which she penned in 2017, raised the stakes with the story of a mother and daughter when they intruded on the lives of a “perfect” family in late 1990s Ohio.

2 months ago | sampan.org | Christopher John Stephens

Sometimes the thrill of a strange novel comes in fits and starts. It’s less thrilling in its explosive consistency than it is in its ability to sustain a mood, to build and maintain a premise. Sayaka Murata’s new novel Vanishing World succeeds in more ways than it probably knows. It’s a novel of suppositions. It’s a speculative dystopian story in which society reproduces solely by artificial insemination. Traditional reproduction between a husband and wife is considered incest.