MOCA Talks: Hyphen Reunion | NYC | June 26, 2025

June 2, 2025
by Melissa Hung
Events
Flyer for MOCA Talks: Hyphen Reunion. Melissa Hung, Bernice Yeung, Co-founders. Thursday, June 26, 7:00-9:00 pm. moca-talks-hyphen-reunion.eventbrite.com. There is an issue of Hyphen faintly in the background and headshots for Melissa and Bernice.

Join me and Bernice Yeung — an investigative journalist, fellow co-founder of Hyphen, and friend — for a conversation at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA). Following the discussion, a reception will provide an opportunity for Hyphen readers, contributors, and community members to reconnect, share stories, and explore MOCA’s special exhibition, Magazine Fever: Gen X Asian American Periodicals.

Hyphen Reunion with Melissa Hung and Bernice Yeung
Thursday, June 26, 7:00 – 9:00 pm ET
MOCA, 215 Centre Street, New York, NY 10013
Free | Register

The Art of Grace Lin: Meeting a Friend in an Unexpected Place | June 14 – December 31, 2025

May 16, 2025
by Melissa Hung
Events / News
A painting of a girl reading a book in a tropical jungle. She is sitting on the branch of a tree, and there are animals all around her including many types of birds. The girl's dress is the same shade of green as the background.

I’m excited to share that a project I’ve been working on since last year will be opening soon. I am the guest curator of an exhibit of the art of Grace Lin at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. This career retrospective of more than 90 works celebrates Grace’s creativity with original art, sketches, and objects from her studio. From her debut picture book The Ugly Vegetables to more than 30 acclaimed titles — including A Big Mooncake for Little Star, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and Chinese Menu — Grace Lin has become one of the most important voices in children’s literature today. (Learn more about her career in this essay I wrote.)

Through painted illustrations that incorporate bright colors and playful patterns, Grace tells stories that are inspired by family, food, and folklore. The exhibit takes its title from a Chinese aphorism about the four happinesses in life. Meeting a friend in an unexpected place is one of them.

The exhibit will be up for six months and will feature bilingual English and Traditional Chinese text and a cozy reading nook inspired by Grace’s own attic art studio.

The Art of Grace Lin: Meeting a Friend in an Unexpected Place
林珮思的藝術世界：他鄉遇故知
June 14 – December 31, 2025
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
125 West Bay Road, Amherst, MA 01002

Members’ Preview
Friday, June 13, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Enjoy refreshments and a visit to the exhibition before a 6:30 p.m. conversation between me and Grace.

Book Friends Forever Podcast — Live!
Saturday, June 14, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Attend a live recording of a podcast by Grace and her childhood friend Alvina Ling, a children’s book editor. I’m the guest for this episode.
Update: Listen to the episode or watch a video here.

Image by Grace Lin. Illustration for Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin and Kate Messner (Little, Brown Books). Collection of the artist. © 2022 Grace Lin. 


Magazine Fever: The Making of Asian American Magazines | NYC & Online | Oct 3, 2024

September 17, 2024
by Melissa Hung
Events / News
Black and white photo from an issue of Hyphen showing six people, arranged in a pyramid with one person on top, two on the row below, and three at the bottom, with a band of paint over their eyes. The five people on the bottom two rows have their eyes closed while the person at the top has opened their eyes. Main text, in yellow, in the center reads: Magazine Fever: Gen X Asian American Periodicals. Other text reads: Museum of Chinese in America. 10.03.24- 3.30.25

Hyphen will be part of a new exhibit at The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), Magazine Fever: Gen X Asian American Periodicals. Join me on opening night for a discussion on the creation and evolution of Asian American magazines with the founders and editors behind some of these influential publications.

The Making of Asian American Magazines
Thursday, October 3, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. ET
MOCA, 215 Centre Street, New York, NY 10013
The panel will also be online
Free | Register

Panelists
Melissa Hung of Hyphen
Lakán Angelo Ragaza of A. Magazine
Tommy Tam of YOLK
Larry Tazuma of KoreAm and YOLK

Moderated by journalist Camille Bromley

The show will run through March 30, August 31, 2025 and includes A. Magazine, AsiAm, AsianWeek, Audrey, Giant Robot, Hyphen, Jade, KoreAm, Rice, Transpacific, YOLK, and others.

In Celebration of The Translator’s Daughter | NYC | June 18, 2024

May 18, 2024
by Melissa Hung
Events / Literary
A pink and green background. Text reads: In Celebration of the Translator's Daughter with Grace Loh Prasad & Melissa Hung. Tuesday, June 18, 6 pm ET, In person wat Yu & Me Books. RSVP at AAWW.org/Events. Masks required. There are photos of Grace and Melissa, and between them, the cover of The Translator's Daughter, which shows an old-style Chinese chop.

Join me at for an in-person event in celebration of Grace Loh Prasad’s debut memoir, The Translator’s Daughter.

A Taiwanese American writer unfurls themes of memory, dislocation, language, and loss to tell a unique story about reclaiming one’s heritage while living in a diaspora.

Presented by the Asian American Writers Workshop and Yu & Me Books.

Tuesday, June 18, 2024, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Yu & Me Books, 44 Mulberry Street, New York, NY, 10013
Free | Masks required

Disability Intimacy Panel | May 23, 2024

May 3, 2024
by Melissa Hung
Events / Literary
A tan & cream background. In the bottom corner is the cover of Disability Intimacy, with colorful flowers. An image of Alice Wong, smiling, wearing a floral blouse is also at the bottom. The text of this image reads: "THE LONGMORE INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY AND THE DISABILITY VISIBILITY PROJECT PRESENT: DISABILITY INTIMACY, Essays on Love, Care, and Desire by Alice Wong, A Panel Series." Images of the panelists Melissa Hung, Marie Flores, and Ada Hubrig. Text continues: "Hear from panelists featured in the anthology as they explore disability & intimacy themes tied to romance, community, caregiving and friendships. Moderated by Alice Wong. May 23rd, 4-5:30pm PT/7-8:30pm ET, Zoom Event, ASL/CART provided. Register: tinyurl.com/DisabilityIntimacy3

The Longmore Institute and the Disability Visibility Project present a panel for Disability Intimacy. Hear from folks featured in Alice Wong’s anthology as they explore disability and intimacy themes tied to romance, community, caregiving and friendships.

Thursday, May 23, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. PT
Virtual | ASL/CART provided
Free | Register

Panelists
Marie Flores, MD, PhD, MPH
Melissa Hung
Ada Hubrig

Moderated by Alice Wong

Disability Intimacy | April 30, 2024

March 18, 2024
by Melissa Hung
Literary / News
The book Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desired, Edited by Alice Wong, with an illustration of bright flowers on its cover. There is a wallpaper design of pink flowers behind it, and a logo for Vintage Books in the bottom right corner.

An anthology that I’m part of is coming to bookstores soon! Disability Intimacy is the follow up to the groundbreaking anthology Disability Visibility, edited by writer and activist Alice Wong. I’m one of 40 contributors to this collection by Vintage Books that explores caregiving, community, friendship, and sex. My essay, “The Last Walk,” is about an intergenerational friendship. Grateful to Alice for asking me to be part of it.

Learn more Disability Intimacy and pre-order it here.

Mere Mortals | NYC | May 4, 2023

April 12, 2023
by Melissa Hung
Events
Image of a bed with a clump of sheets down the middle. Text adjacent to the image reads: More Mortals: recovering the model minority

More than simply a “myth” or a stereotype, the model minority is a racial form that brings with it very real expectations and consequences for Asian Americans. What kinds of harm are done when Asian Americans too often and too readily invest in the idea of the model minority? What will it take to undo this devastating ideal altogether? This panel brings together authors whose work examines the relationship between the model minority, health, and Asian American well-being.

Thursday, May 4, 2023, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Presented by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU
20 Cooper Square, 4th floor, New York, NY 10003
Free | Register (Registration required)

Panelists:
* Melissa Hung, writer and journalist
* erin Khuê Ninh, author of Passing for Perfect: College Impostors and Other Model Minorities
* James Kyung-Jin Lee, author of Pedagogies of Woundedness: Illness, Memoir, and the Ends of the Model Minority 

COVID-19 & NYU campus access guidelines: All attendees must be able to present proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and boosted with an FDA-authorized or WHO-listed vaccine. Non-NYU guests may be asked to present a government-issued photo ID. NYU guests must present their NYU ID. It is strongly recommended that audience members wear a well-fitted mask during the event.

Accessibility note: This venue has an elevator and is accessible for wheelchair users. There are single-stall, all gender restrooms available. If you have any access needs, please email apa.rsvp@nyu.edu.

Update: A recording of the event is available here.

Body Language | July 12, 2022

November 13, 2021
by Melissa Hung
Literary / News
Book cover for Body Language, featuring multicolored shapes of people in the background. Text in white: Body Language, Writers on Identity, Physicality, and Making Space for Ourselves. Edited by Nicole Chung and Matt Ortile

I’m thrilled to be part of Body Language, an anthology coming out on July 12, 2022. My essay about swimming and chronic pain is included.

Selected from the archives of Catapult magazine, the essays in Body Language affirm and challenge the personal and political conversations around human bodies from the perspectives of 30 writers diverse in race, age, gender, size, sexuality, health, ability, geography, and class — a brilliant group probing and speaking their own truths about their bodies and identities, refusing to submit to others’ expectations about how their bodies should look, function, and behave.

Featuring essays by A.E. Osworth, Andrea Ruggirello, Aricka Foreman, Austin Gilkeson, Bassey Ikpi, Bryan Washington, Callum Angus, Destiny O. Birdsong, Eloghosa Osunde, Forsyth Harmon, Gabrielle Bellot, Haley Houseman, Hannah Walhout, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, Jess Zimmerman, Kaila Philo, Karissa Chen, Kayla Whaley, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Marcos Gonsalez, Marisa Crane, Melissa Hung, Natalie Lima, Nina Riggs, Rachel Charlene Lewis, Ross Showalter, s.e. smith, Sarah McEachern, Taylor Harris, and Toni Jensen.

Learn more about Body Language and pre-order it here.