Celebrating the depth and diversity of BC publishing
On Thursday, July 20th, at 6pm, join Massy Arts, Massy Books and Tin House for the West Coast launch of Jane Wong’s “blazing, lyrical” memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City. Jane will be joined by guest readers Britt McGillivray and Adèle Barclay.
In what Elissa Washuta calls “a perfect and glimmering book”, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City is a resounding love song of the Asian American working class, a portrait of how we become who we are, and a story of lyric wisdom to hold and to share.
This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible grâce au gouvernement du Canada.
Venue & Accessibility
The event will be hosted at the Massy Arts Gallery, at 23 East Pender Street in Chinatown, Vancouver.
Registration is free and required for entrance.
The gallery is wheelchair accessible and a gender-neutral washroom is on-site. Please refrain from wearing scents or heavy perfumes.
For more on accessibility including parking, seating, venue measurements and floor plan, and how to request ASL interpretation please visit: massyarts.com/accessibility
Covid Protocols: Masks keep our community safe and are mandatory (N95 masks are recommended as they offer the best protection). We ask if you are showing symptoms, that you stay home. Thank you kindly.
About the Book:
Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City (TinHouse, 2023)
An incandescent, exquisitely written memoir about family, food, girlhood, resistance, and growing up in a Chinese American restaurant on the Jersey shore.
In the late 1980s on the Jersey shore, Jane Wong watches her mother shake ants from an MSG bin behind the family’s Chinese restaurant. She is a hungry daughter frying crab rangoon for lunch, a child sneaking naps on bags of rice, a playful sister scheming to trap her brother in the freezer before he traps her first. Jane is part of a family staking their claim to the American dream, even as this dream crumbles. Beneath Atlantic City’s promise lies her father’s gambling addiction, an addiction that causes him to disappear for days and ultimately leads to the loss of the restaurant.
In her debut memoir, Jane Wong tells a new story about Atlantic City, one that resists a single identity, a single story as she writes about making do with what you have—and what you don’t. What does it mean, she asks, to be both tender and angry? What is strength without vulnerability—and humor? Filled with beauty found in unexpected places, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City is a resounding love song of the Asian American working class, a portrait of how we become who we are, and a story of lyric wisdom to hold and to share.
About the Author:
Jane Wong is the author of a memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City (Tin House, 2023), and two collections of poetry: How to Not Be Afraid of Everything (Alice James, 2021) and Overpour (Action Books, 2016). She is an associate professor of creative writing at Western Washington University and lives in Seattle.
With Guest Readers:
Britt McGillivray is a poet, editor, and non-fiction writer from the Pacific Northwest. Born in Vancouver, BC (unceded territory of the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, and Musqueam Nations), they run writing retreats on Orcas Island, WA, and spend their time between Vancouver and Seattle. Britt is finishing their first novel.
Adèle Barclay’s (she/they) poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in The Walrus, The Tyee, The Pinch, Heavy Feather Review, glitterMOB, PRISM, Cosmonauts Avenue and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the 2016 Lit POP Award, The Walrus’ 2016 Readers’ Choice Award for Poetry and The Fiddlehead’s 2022 Fiction Prize. Their debut poetry collection, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You won the 2017 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Her second collection, Renaissance Normcore was nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the ReLit Award and placed third for the 2020 Fred Cogswell Award. Excerpts from their memoir-in-progress Black Cherry have been published in Impact: Women Writing After Concussion, This Magazine, and The Puritan and have been nominated for creative nonfiction prizes by The Fiddlehead and The Malahat.