.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #76
sarena tien
How did you first publish your writing and what was it?
During my sophomore year of college, I took an expository writing class. My professor had us write a cover letter for an assignment, and so I ended up submitting two of the personal essays I’d written for her class. While both ended up being published, “What It Means to be Chinese-American” was first.
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
I remember when I learned that accents have power, even though they shouldn’t. Two Chinese American sisters were trying to get me to say “lion” because they thought it hilarious that my “l”s weren’t quite fully formed and so I’d say “nion” instead, and I think that’s when the cruelty of linguistic discrimination first crept into my world.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Finish one of the many pieces in progress that you have floating around your laptop.
Why did you submit this piece to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time to this place?
I’ve been subscribed to the Yellow Arrow newsletter for a while, but I never had pieces that fit the themes. Then I saw the call for kitalo, and the concept of grief resonated with me. Various forms of grief—linguistic, cultural, and familial—have shaped and unshaped my identity. I wrote “A Doctoral Education” during the winter break of my final year of graduate school, when I was struggling to figure out what I wanted to do after my PhD. Being the only first-generation, Chinese American student in my graduate program wasn’t easy, and my experience actually ended up playing a role in my decision to leave academia. However, I’m still grateful for the opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic I love, and my PhD helped me secure a job close to home with the kind of salary that my immigrant mother who never went to college always wanted me to have.
Sarena Tien (she/her) is a queer Chinese American writer and doctor (the PhD kind). Once upon a time, she used to be so shy that two teachers argued whether she was a “low talker” or “no talker,” but she’s since learned how to scream. Her poetry and prose have appeared in The Rumpus, Snarl, and Sylvia, as well as anthologies such as Decoded Pride, The Secrets We Keep, and Good for Her: An Anthology of Women’s Wrongs.
Yellow Arrow published Tien’s piece “A Doctoral Education” in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. IX, No. 2, kitalo. You can find her online on BlueSky @sarendipitous.bsky.social, and at sarenatien.com.
Recently, Sarena has published poems in Philly Chapbook Review and The Hellebore and a novelette, Definition: a Novelette, which will be published soon. Get your copy of Definition: a Novelette at elj-editions.com/definition. Congratulations Sarena!