Asians Around Appalachia: Lisa Kwong

A native of Radford, Virginia, Lisa Kwong is AppalAsian, an Affrilachian Poet, and author of Becoming AppalAsian (Glass Lyre Press), a Weatherford Award in Poetry nominee. Her poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia (Second Edition); Untelling Magazine, Women Speak, A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Still: The Journal, Best New Poets, The Sleuth, Appalachian Heritage, Pluck!: The Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture, and other publications. She is a 2024 recipient of the City of Bloomington (Indiana) Arts Commission’s Artistic Advancement Grant and is currently working on her second book of poems and a memoir. A multidisciplinary educator, she teaches at Indiana University and Ivy Tech Community College.

Lisa Kwong celebrates the Summer 2025 release of The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia (Second Edition) (Texas Review Press), which includes three poems from Becoming AppalAsian. [Source: Ellie Moss, Ivy Tech Bloomington Library]

Interview

1. Growing up, have you ever felt out of place due to your identity? If so, where did you find a sense of community?

I honestly felt different, period. Like a lot of first-generation Asian immigrants, my parents owned a restaurant, and I started working there at a young age. I had a different childhood than a lot of my peers. Most people got to be kids and play on the weekends; I was hosting, working the cash register, answering the phone, bussing tables, and rolling silverware. The summer between my high school freshman and sophomore year, I was in charge of bagging takeout orders, and we regularly had large to-go orders from the local hospital and foundry. I also felt different from other Asian American students because I was not as advanced as in math and other subjects. In high school, I realized that it was okay to be different and to embrace my own strengths. I was part of my high school’s band, French Club, multiple quiz bowl teams (specializing in English!), and literary magazine staff. I also spent a lot of time with my younger siblings.

2. Can you tell us about one of your personal stories related to being an AppalAsian?

One significant aspect of my AppalAsian experiences is a strong sense of community. My siblings and I were raised by the community; so many people in my hometown knew my family because of the restaurant. I had multiple “adopted” Southern grandmas who were as influential on my life as my paternal grandmother, Ngin Ngin, who raised me while my parents worked long hours at the restaurant. A lot of people cared for my family when our first restaurant burned down in the early 1980s. I have felt that Southern Appalachian care throughout my life from my hometown community in Radford to my college community at Appalachian State to my present Appalachian writing community, especially my poetry family, the Affrilachian Poets. (I was inducted in 2022.) 

3. During your time writing "Becoming AppalAsian", did you find anything that surprised you about the Appalachian Asian experience that you didn't know before?

Like other Asian American experiences, Appalachian Asian experiences are multiple cultures finding a way to co-exist, and even though there can be pain and alienation, there is also a lot of beauty and joy in our uniqueness.

4. After writing your book "Becoming AppalAsian", do you see more interest in the Appalachian Asian experience?

Appalachian Asian experiences in Appalachian literature have been on the rise for the last 15 years. I always have to give credit to my contemporaries. Michael Croley published Any Other Place, a collection of short stories, in 2018. In 2022, you could say that Appalachian Asian literature exploded! Neema Avashia published her memoir Another Appalachia; Danni Quintos, my fellow Affrilachian Poet, released her full-length poetry collection Two Brown Dots; and my chapbook Becoming AppalAsian came out shortly after Danni’s book. All of us have had a lot of recognition whether it’s winning or being nominated for the Weatherford Award, the highest honor in Appalachian literature, or being asked to read and speak all over the region and country. In early 2023, Michael, Neema, and I were the first all Appalachian Asian lineup at the Appalachian Symposium at Berea College in Kentucky. That was a surreal moment for me. The biggest success, though, has been reaching young AppalAsians like yourselves or college students at different universities and colleges in Appalachia. If our books had existed when I was growing up or even in college, maybe I wouldn’t have felt so alone. Who knows? A more recent moment of Appalachian Asian experience for me was attending a panel on Jappalachians at the 2025 Appalachian Studies Association Conference. And there will be more Appalachian Asian experiences to discover in the years to come!

5. What is one piece of advice you would give to AppalAsians who struggle to fit in?

This is a tough question! I’ve often said that the biggest success is to be true to yourself, and this is so important for Asians in/from Appalachia. Embrace everything that makes you unique, that makes you AppalAsian. Don’t let other people try to tell you who you are or who you should be. Always be yourself and joy and all good things will follow. 

Find "AppalAsian Enough" and other Appalachian Asian authors' work here:

https://hindman.org/untelling/issue-3-summer-2025/

Rian Arora

Vic Chen