SF Main Library packed with readers for noted novelist and screenwriter Geling Yan’s speech on her new book, Milati

(SAN FRANCISCO) Famed Chinese American author and screenwriter Geling Yan was back in San Francisco having a speech about her new book, Milati, at the San Francisco Main Library on January 3. Yan shared her experience and joy of being a full time writer.

Yan was born in Shanghai, China, and came to the United States in 1989 to have her master degree in fiction writing at the Columbia College in Chicago. Prior to pursuing her graduate degree in the United States, Yan earned a bachelor degree in literature from Wuhan University in China.

Yan has been famous for writing novels. Many of her novels have been adapted for films and television series, including Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (directed by Joan Chen) and Siao Yu (directed by Sylvia Chang and produced by Ang Lee). She is also one of the few authors to publish books in both English and Chinese languages.

Currently Yan lives in Berlin, Germany. She has published over 40 books in various editions in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, United States, and United Kingdom. She also has received over 30 literary and film awards over the path of her writing career. Her works have been translated into 21 languages worldwide.

According to the biography in her website, Yan started at age 12 as a dancer in an entertainment troupe in China and later served with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during the Cultural Revolution.

After serving for over a decade with the PLA stationed in Chengdu, Tibet, and as a journalist in the Sino-Vietnam War, Yan was discharged with a rank equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel. She published her first novel in 1986 and has since become a professional writer of novels, essays and scripts.

Yan's latest book, Milati, was published in 2023. The story is about a woman named Milati who changes her career from a performing arts dancer to a young writer to think and create work independently.

"It is the early eighties in China, when people's perceptions and patterns of behavior seemed to change overnight in a subversive way: love, sex, freedom, democracy ...... everything impossible became possible, and the possibilities seemed endless," the book introduction stated. "The story revolves around Milati’s and her father’s personal experience and bears witness to the awakening and disillusionment of two generations of Chinese artists, writers, and intellectuals in the 1980s."

The January 3 book talk was hosted by the San Francisco Main Library. It was first planned to hold the event at the library's Chinese Center Meeting Room. Hundreds of Yan's fans showed up and packed the room. Some of them directly came from Southern California for the event. The venue was then moved to a larger room in the Main Library.

Yan's fans were so excited to see her and eager to line up to buy her latest book "Milati". The story of a woman named Milati was very similar to Yan's journey from dancer to writer. “Milati is a fiction book,” said Yan. But Yan agreed that the background of Milati in the book was in the 1980s where she also became a writer at the same generation.

Yan credited to her father who inspired her to be a writer. She told the audiences that she was encouraged by her father to read many books at her young age in China.

"My father's study room with many books became my childhood's wonderland," Yan said at the event. She recalled when she was growing up in China, she loved staying at her father's study room to read books. Yan's father was also an author and screenwriter prior to the Cultural Revolution in China.

When asked by the audiences about her daily schedule, she answered that she continued to write everyday in the morning for 5 to 6 hours and work out in the afternoon.

"Professional training is needed for all writers. I have learned all different skills of writing when I studied at Columbia College in the United States," Yan said. Physically training was also crucial to Yan. She said she would save time for workout everyday to keep herself in good shape.