Name: Gloria Chao

Website: https://gloriachao.wordpress.com/

Asian background: Taiwanese American

What is it about your experience and upbringing that inspired you the most to write? 

A couple things: first, I wanted others who had similar upbringings as me (growing up with traditional immigrant parents) to know they aren’t alone, especially because it’s difficult to talk about these experiences sometimes even to loved ones. Second, because finding the humor in my familial interactions à la My Big Fat Greek Wedding changed my perspective and my relationships, and I wanted to try to give this to others.

Name 3 authors and 3 books: 

Samira Ahmed’s Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know; Rachel Lynn Solomon’s Today Tonight Tomorrow; Kelly Yang’s Parachutes

What do you think is the best quality a writer can have? 

Persistence. Through the rejections, bad reviews, and many other obstacles that will definitely come.

Any last words? (Fun facts, comments, something you’d like to share with the world, etc.) 

My upcoming fall 2020 book, RENT A BOYFRIEND, is about a 19-year-old college sophomore who hires a fake boyfriend to introduce to her traditional parents. When she falls for the real him (the college dropout artist, not the aspiring surgeon her parents know), her carefully curated life begins to unravel.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!

If only Charlie could muster the strength to tell her how he felt, figure out how to find those elusive words, discover a way to do something he’d never done before . . . but he can’t, because he’s a dog, the “her” is his owner, and dogs can’t talk.