Award-Winning Author Eugenia Chu On New Book + Get a Free eBook

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With the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival coming up, we’re happy to announce that lawyer-turned-author mom Eugenia Chu is back with a new book that will help introduce this unique Chinese holiday. “Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival” is Chu’s latest release following her popular “Celebrating Chinese New Year” book. Jingkids chats with Chu to find out more about the book, and also what her family has been up to.

Hi Eugenia! The last time we heard from you on JKI was back in 2021 when you had just released "Brandon Goes to Hong Kong". What have you and Brandon been up to in this time?

Since Covid restrictions were lifted, things have been pretty much back to normal for us. Brandon has been back at school in person full time since 2021 and we have been traveling again. However, we haven't been back to Asia since 2019. We also got a puppy, named Dash, at the beginning of 2021! He has brought us a lot of joy and is my book model - haha! I've also published two books during this time and have done several Zoom and in person events promoting my books.

You also released a book on Celebrating Chinese New Year, could you tell us a little bit about it?

"Celebrating Chinese New Year" was my first nonfiction holiday book and was published by Rockridge Press, an imprint of Calisto Publishing. It explains the history, folklore, traditions, and customs of Chinese New Year and includes interactive activities that encourage kids to celebrate at home or in their communities. This book was a big hit and is my best seller! People really love the way the book is formatted with shorter sections to keep the kids engaged and all the crafts and recipes included.

What made you decide on Mid-Autumn Festival as the topic of your latest book?

I received so much great feedback from "Celebrating Chinese New Year" that I knew I wanted to write another holiday book. Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most popular and important Chinese holiday (after Chinese New Year), but very few people know about it outside of Asia. In fact, I didn't really know much about the history and legends of this wonderful holiday and had to research before writing this book. I co-authored this book with my friend, award-winning author, Y.Y. Chan, who lives and teaches English in Guangzhou!

One of my goals as a writer is to share Chinese language and culture with everyone, not just those with a Chinese heritage. I believe increasing cultural awareness through things like holidays ands celebrations will help children become more accepting of, and respectful towards, people with different backgrounds. If more multicultural children’s books were introduced to the market and read at home and in schools, the gap between people from diverse cultural backgrounds would be reduced and future generations would be more unified. I truly hope my books will, in some small way, contribute to that end goal.

Did Mid-Autumn Festival hold any special meaning for you as a child? How do you now celebrate it with your family?

When I was a child, we were the ONLY Asian family in my neighborhood and school, so there were never any Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations. My parents would travel into the city to buy mooncakes at a Chinese grocery store and we would enjoy them before going out to admire the full moon. Mooncakes were always a special treat! So whenever I think of the Mid-Autumn Festival, I think of mooncakes! In fact, I often call this holiday the Mid-Autumn Mooncake Festival!

After much trial and error, I now know how to make mooncakes! I have 2 easy recipes in the book and will be making both for this Mid-Autumn Festival. We will also make lanterns, write lantern riddles, and attend a Mid-Autumn Festival celebration! I will be traveling on Mid-Autumn Festival day (September 29th) so we will have a small family feast beforehand and then go out to gaze and appreciate the moon. We will also try the Bobing dice game, which I never heard of before writing this book! I can't wait!

What’s up next for you - both personally and professionally?

Personally, I am traveling to Taiwan with my mom, sister, and niece - on Mid-Autumn Festival! Thankfully they celebrate all weekend long, like they do in China, so i will be able to experience my first Mid-Autumn Festival in Asia! I'm very excited because I haven't been back to Taiwan in 30 years! 

Professionally, I have three book ideas in the works: 1) a Simplified Chinese version of my picture book, "Brandon Makes Jiaozi"; 2) another nonfiction holiday book, "Celebrating Dragon Boat Festival"; and 3) another chapterbook, "Brandon Goes to Taipei" -- so stay tuned!

As a special gift to our readers, Eugenia Chu will send a free pdf copy of any of her books to the first 10 people who email her at [e-mail]. Simply reference “Jingkids International” and tell her which ebook you would like! 

Learn more about Chu and her books at https://linktr.ee/eugeniachu or https://eugeniachu.com/.

Images: Courtesy of Eugenia Chu

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