In Celebration of the Lunar New Year: “Our Laundry, Our Town with Alvin Eng & Radha Vatsal”

Celebrate the Lunar New Year at the renowned World’s Borough Bookshop! Author Alvin Eng will read from his memoir, Our Laundry, Our Town: My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond (OLOT), then be joined in conversation with Jackson Heights’ own Radha Vatsal, essayist and author of No. 10 Doyers St. Please join Alvin Eng & Radha Vatsal to celebrate NYC literature, community, and the Year of the Fire Horse!

OLOT decodes and processes the fractured urban oracle bones of growing up in what was then one of the few Asian families in Flushing, Queens. From behind the counter of his parents’ laundry and a household rooted in a different century and culture to the turbulent, exciting streets of 1970s NYC, Eng shares his riveting, tender story of finding voice, identity and community through the transformative power of Asian American arts & activism, punk rock and downtown theater.
As a 2024-2025 New York Public Library Fellow, Eng started researching a companion book to OLOT entitled, OPIUM DREAMS OF ORACLE BONES: Grandfather, Burroughs and Punk.