To promote Taiwanese literature globally, author Gigi L. Leung and translator Jennifer Feeley will launch their second North American tour for the English edition of Everyday Movement this October, supported by the Ministry of Culture. Both of them will hold seven events across universities, public libraries, and professional organizations in Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland. The tour aims to connect with English readers and literary professionals, expand the reach of Taiwanese literature in North America, and highlight Taiwan's vital role as a haven for free expression in the Sinophone world.
The global rights to Everyday Movement were acquired by Riverhead Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House), and the novel was published in the U.S. in February to critical acclaim. A review in the Los Angeles Review of Books by freelance journalist Melissa Chan praised the author, writing that - Leung is clear-eyed about what kind of fiction she wants to pursue: the kind that reveals “the delicate and multifaceted nature of life.”
Leung relocated from Hong Kong to Taiwan in 2021. Following drastic political shifts in Hong Kong, Taiwan's free publishing environment, where Everyday Movement was published, has become particularly crucial for her. Translator Jennifer Feeley, having personally witnessed recent social movements in Hong Kong, brought deep empathy and contextual understanding to the translation.
Their tour on the West Coast features in-depth dialogues with Sinologists at academic universities to discuss literature as public history, direct engagement with local readers at major public libraries, and panel presentations at the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) conference in Portland to showcase Taiwan's global literary importance.
The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles noted that this is the Ministry of Culture’s second time supporting Leung’s North American tour for Everyday Movement this year. Through diverse promotional events, the initiative aims to boost the novel's visibility and foster sustainable growth for translated Taiwanese literature in North America.
Event Information
1. University of California, Irvine
Date: October 12, 2026 | 5:30 PM
Location: Humanities Gateway 1030 (611 Humanities Quad, Irvine, CA 92697)
https://www.humanities.uci.edu/events/revisiting-past-page-and-museums-day-discussion-featuring-historians-curator-and-novelist
Part of the panel “Revisiting the Past on the Page and in Museums: A Day of Discussion Featuring Historians, a Curator, and a Novelist”
2. University of California, Los Angeles
Date: October 13, 2026 | 1:00 PM
Location: Bunche Hall 10383 (11282 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095)
https://www.international.ucla.edu/ccs/event/17759
3. Cerritos Library
Date: October 15, 2026 | 6:00 PM
Location: Skyline Room (18025 Bloomfield Ave, Cerritos, CA 90703)
https://calendar.cerritos.gov/library/Detail/2026-10-15-1800-Meet-the-Author-Gigi-Leung-Lee-Chi-registration-re
https://secure.rec1.com/CA/cerritos-ca/catalog (for registration)
Book sale and signing to follow.
4. University of San Francisco
Date: October 16, 2026 | 5:00 PM
Location: Lo Schiavo Science — 104 - Getty Study (2130 Fulton St, San Francisco, CA 94117)
https://myusf.usfca.edu/event/fiction-after-protest-hong-kong-memory-and-translation-everyday-movement/13572225
5. San Francisco Public Library
Date: October 19, 2026 | 2:00 PM
Location: Chinese Center Exhibit Space - 3rd Fl (100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102)
https://sfpl.org/events/2026/10/19/panel-fiction-after-protest
6. Marriott Downtown Waterfront (Portland)
Date: October 23, 2026 | 9:00 AM
Location: Portland, Lower Level 1 (1401 SW Naito Pkwy, Portland, OR 97201)
https://literarytranslators.org/event/alta-49/
Part of ALTA49’s Panel: Translating Literature via Taiwan
7. Marriott Downtown Waterfront (Portland)
Date: October 24, 2026 | 3:45 PM
Location: Eugene, Lower Level 1 (1401 SW Naito Pkwy, Portland, OR 97201)
https://literarytranslators.org/event/alta-49/
Part of ALTA49’s Bilingual Reading XI: East and Southeast Asia