Mother of All Stories seeks to bring together writings by published and unpublished authors on the mothers, grandmothers, and mother figures who have shaped our lives.  We want to hear how mother(s) or experiences of mothering have influenced who Asian/Pacific Islander and Asian/Pacific American women feel we are today.  We especially aim to uncover and share stories of the many Asian Pacific Islander women who break the confining molds of the self-sacrificing and sentimental Joy Luck Mom or the unrelenting and unaffectionate Tiger Mom.

Help us explore and explode all the ways Asian Pacific American women experience, appreciate, embrace, fear and/ or are intimidated by mothers and mothering by submitting a story for our new anthology project.  

Submit Your Story

To submit, simply email your essay, short story, poem, song and/ or other creative work to motherofallstories@gmail.com using the following guidelines:

• One or more photos illustrating persons or subjects from the story. These should be your personal photos or photos for which you have gained permission to use.
• Caption information for each photo submitted.
• A three to five sentence bio.
• Designate how your byline should appear.
• If your piece has been previously published, please gain permissions and then let us know who to acknowledge and when it was published.*

Thank you for your interest in the Mother of All Stories project.

*By sending this submission to Asian Women United, you have represented that you are the author and copyright owner of the submission and/or have all rights necessary to provide this submission to AWU and you have granted AWU an irrevocable, royalty-free license to publish, distribute, copy and edit the submission in any print, electronic or other medium.  

MOAS EDITORS:

Elaine H. Kim teaches in the Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies program and former Associate Dean of the Graduate Division at UC Berkeley and is co-founder of the Korean Community Center in Oakland, California, and Asian Immigrant Women Advocates. She has written, edited, or co-edited ten books, received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Massachusetts Boston and the University of Notre Dame, and recently received the Association for Asian American Studies Lifetime Achievement Award and the Asian Pacific American Heritage Lifetime Achievement Award.

Eliza Chan, in 2010, declared “every day is a holiday” and promptly renewed her lifelong passions: marathon reading, writing and trekking. A reborn foodie, Eliza has devoured squid ink pasta in Venice, roasted guinea pig on Lake Titicaca, and durian agar-agar on the sacred grounds of Angkor Wat.

Kristen Sun is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. She is currently writing her dissertation on the politics of war memory and Korean War memorials, museums, and films about South Korea and the U.S. In her spare time, Kristen enjoys food blogging, watching films, and exploring the Bay Area. 

Vivien Kim Thorp is the Executive Communications Manager for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. She is passionate about connecting people with the great outdoors. When not working, she’s usually hiking with her beloved pooch, Badger, or getting dirty in the veggie garden.

WEB EDITOR:

Eunice Kwon works at the Sustainable Economies Law Center in Oakland. She loves a good tomato.