Great Michigan Read Author Event with Curtis Chin

About the Event

Cost: Free

Celebrated author Curtis Chin will appear at the Saugatuck Woman’s Club as part of the book tour organized by Michigan Humanities to launch the 2025-2026 program. This event is cosponsored by the Saugatuck-Douglas History Center, Saugatuck-Douglas District Library, and the Saugatuck Woman’s Club.

Curtis Chin’s memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, chronicles his personal history as a Chinese-American raised in Detroit and its suburbs. The book offers amusing and poignant insights into the daily workings of Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, the beloved family restaurant that nurtured and fed people from all walks of life in 1980s Detroit. The story also chronicles his experiences as a gay Asian-American from urban Detroit, to the suburbs of Troy, and the campus of the University of Michigan. After graduating from Michigan, Chin went on to New York City to cofound the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and then on to a writing career in television and documentary filmmaking.

The Saugatuck program on Tuesday, October 28 begins at 6:30 pm with doors opening at 6:00, giving time to view the historic building and art collection prior to the program. The Saugatuck Woman’s Club is located at the corner of Butler and Hoffman streets. The event is free and accessible to all. The author will be signing copies of his book after the program and Chin’s book will be available for purchase through The Book Nook of Saugatuck.