This book talk will take place in person at Chatham Square Library and online. Please join Alvin Eng and our staff as we discuss his memoir, Our Laundry, Our Town: My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond, which is available at NYPL. Find more information and online registration here.
Alvin Eng is a native NYC playwright/memoirist, acoustic punk raconteur and educator. His memoir, OUR LAUNDRY, OUR TOWN (My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond), was published by Fordham University Press in May 2022. The memoir was covered by The New York Times and NPR/WNYC among others. THREE TREES, the first of Eng’s Portrait Plays series of historical dramas about artists, was recently published by No Passport Press. This work dramatizes the haunting relationship between sculptor Alberto Giacometti and his primary 1950s muse/model, Japanese philosopher, Isaku Yanaihara. Honors include: two-time appointee to the Fulbright Specialist roster as a U.S. Studies/Theatre scholar, three-time recipient of NYSCA/NYFA Fellowships––most recently in 2020 for Nonfiction Literature. Eng’s plays and performances have been seen Off-Broadway, throughout the U.S., as well as in Paris, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China. Follow Alvin at IG: alvin.eng8 Twitter: alvineng8 or www.alvineng.com
The Chatham Square Library is one of the busiest branches of The New York Public Library and our annual Summer Reading Celebration is legendary, drawing hundreds of children to the community room each August.
The branch has been an integral part of the Chinatown neighborhood since its earliest days, with a circulating Chinese language collection available since 1911. Chatham Square opened on November 2, 1903, replacing a branch of the New York Free Circulating Library that had served the neighborhood for four years. The library was designed by New York architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, and was the second branch after Yorkville to be constructed with funds from Carnegie’s 1901 gift to the city of New York.
A complete renovation with remodeled interior was done in 2001 as part of the Library's Adopt-a-Branch program. The first floor, with the original floor-to-ceiling windows and striking wood details, holds the adult and young adult collections. The second floor is devoted to the children's collection. The third floor contains a bright, spacious community room and a children's story-hour room. The lower level contains the Chinese Heritage Collection, a unique collection of materials in English and Chinese.