HOUSTON, September 3, 2014 — Author and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo visited Asia Society Texas Center to speak about her newest novel, I Am China. Her public presentation came just one day after the novel’s American release.

In conversation with Rice University representative Y. Ping Sun, Guo discussed many things, including the bifurcated nature of working as a filmmaker and author. On writing in English—Guo’s second tongue—she shared, “I get bored quickly, so writing in another language is liberating. When I write in English, there is a freedom.”

Guo’s intense and punchy prose was belied by her warmth and humor in person, and she left the audience with the sentiment that “if you want to be a good artist, you need to be a good thief.”

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