The Serica Storytellers event on October 27 at Seattle's Elliott Bay Book Company brought acclaimed author Gish Jen into conversation with Serica Deputy Director Daniel Tam-Claiborne about her latest book, Bad, Bad Girl. The memoir examines the lifelong negotiations between mothers and daughters, the push and pull between Chinese heritage and American life, and the complicated ways obligation and love intertwine.

Throughout the evening, the discussion traced how Bad, Bad Girl expands on themes that have long animated Jen’s fiction—assimilation, identity, and belonging—but does so through an unflinchingly personal lens. The conversation illuminated both the craft of the book and the courage required to write it.

Obligation and the Imperative to Write

Tam-Claiborne opened by referencing Jen’s author’s note, in which she remarks that she “had to” tell this story. The talk explored the sense of duty that shapes her work—not only familial obligation but also an ethical responsibility to write about what has been left unsaid. The memoir, as the discussion made clear, reflects an attempt to reconcile that obligation with the risks of exposing family history and private memory.

Translating Between Worlds

A major thread of the evening centered on audience and translation. Tam-Claiborne noted how Jen’s mother, within the book, accuses her of catering to “American” readers. The exchange opened into a broader conversation about how writers of the diaspora make cultural details accessible without flattening them. Jen’s approach, the discussion suggested, is not to over-explain, but to invite readers into a world that feels lived rather than staged.

Assimilation and Its Costs

Much of Bad, Bad Girl examines the double-edged nature of assimilation—what was gained in becoming American, and what was lost. Tam-Claiborne pointed to passages about Jen’s mother’s insistence on speaking only English at home, an act of practicality that also signaled a break with the past. The talk touched on the generational optimism behind such decisions, as well as the cultural and emotional gaps they left for the next generation to navigate.

Generational Parallels

One of the evening’s most resonant topics was the recurring phrase “bad, bad girl,” a judgment and an endearment that circulates between mothers and daughters in the book. The conversation drew out the parallels between Jen’s relationship with her mother and her mother’s relationship with her own mother in Shanghai, revealing how patterns of discipline, sacrifice, and rebellion echo across generations. The memoir’s title, the discussion suggested, becomes both accusation and reclamation—a means of understanding how love can disguise itself as correction.

Re-seeing China and America

Tam-Claiborne guided the discussion toward the book’s reflections on national identity, including the shifting attitudes within Jen’s family toward China and the United States. The exchange highlighted how the memoir situates personal history within a larger political and cultural framework—from mid-century immigration to the Cold War and beyond—inviting readers to reconsider how belonging is defined and by whom.

Writing, Parenting, and Inheritance

In the final portion of the conversation, attention turned to the legacies that parents pass on, both intentionally and not. Tam-Claiborne asked how Jen’s experiences as a daughter have influenced her approach to motherhood and to writing. The discussion underscored that Bad, Bad Girl is as much about healing as remembrance—a reckoning with what it means to inherit pain, transform it, and hand forward something different.

A Night of Resonance

By the evening’s close, what emerged was a portrait of an artist writing at the height of her clarity: probing the intersection of history and emotion, confronting silence with narrative, and re-examining the familiar through new eyes. The audience left with a deeper appreciation for how Bad, Bad Girl expands the conversation around Asian American storytelling—inviting empathy without explanation, and understanding without simplification.

Elliott Bay staff pose with author and moderator.

You can catch Gish Jen again in New York City at the Museum of Chinese in America next week on November 11! Register here for your spot now to see two great writers talk her new book and meet Gish!