The Wall Street Journal best-selling author who received 82 rejections

Weina Dai Randel is an award-winning author. She came to Texas from China in 2001 and began writing fiction in English, her second language. One of the few Chinese immigrants in her town, Randel became interested in exploring the often neglected stories of Chinese women who claimed a place in history. 

Randel is also one of the first authors who intertwined Chinese history with the Jewish diaspora during World War II. She has published four novels, including Night Angels, a novel based on the true story of a Chinese couple in Vienna who issued visas to Jews flee­ing the Nazis. This book was longlisted for the 24th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards. 

For the second feature of our Q&A series celebrating AAPI Heritage Month, LexObserver spoke with Randel about her career as a novelist, observations of the publishing industry, her identity and heritage as a Chinese American, and how that influenced her creative work. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

LexObserver: What inspired you to become a novelist?

Weina Dai Randel: I’m the kind of book nerd who always wanted to be a writer since I was young. I wanted to be a storyteller when I was in third grade. Growing up in China in the 1980s, there was nothing in my hometown. There weren’t even libraries. It was very difficult for me to get my hands on books, but I loved to read and that’s how I started to read and dream.

LexObserver: What was life like when you first came to the U.S.? 

Weina Dai Randel: That was 23 years ago, in 2001. I was 24 at the time. The only person I knew was my husband and we were not married yet. 

I felt like it was a completely different country. Dallas was so different. It was all flat. There were no mountains and no water. I grew up on the east coast of China, where water and mountains are everywhere.

In Texas, I felt like an outsider. It was very difficult for me to find any Chinese communities at that time. People looked at me and they thought, who’s that person? I still wanted to be a writer. I decided to go to graduate school and polish my English.

LexObserver: How did you decide to pursue a career in literature?

Weina Dai Randel: When I went to graduate school, one episode changed my direction. There was one class where I studied Maxine Hong Kingston. I could see how she struggled as an Asian American. But the part that struck me the most was my classmates. They read the first chapter of Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir The Woman Warrior, and got it completely wrong. It was a very sad story about a Chinese woman who got pregnant and who was not able to be accepted by her family, so she committed suicide by drowning herself in the well. 

I grew up in China. This kind of story was very familiar to me and I immediately identified that. But my classmates could not understand. They thought Chinese people at that time were living on the trees. So I was like, “You have to understand China is a big country. There are many strong women in China.”

From that moment, I started to have the idea of writing Empress Wu Ze Tian’s story and pursuing the one and only female emperor in Chinese culture. You needed to read about her story and see how resourceful she was and how she became a ruler. So that became the idea of my first book, The Moon in the Palace.

LexObserver: You wrote a lot about Chinese history and women. Is that a theme or topic you wanted to explore throughout your career?

Weina Dai Randel: I’m always concerned about women in history — how they played a role and actually changed society. But unfortunately, many of the stories remain obscure, simply because they were women. So we need to tell their stories, and as a woman myself, I think it is important for me to do that. I wanted to bring women to the spotlight and show them as protagonists and resilient females with strengths and flaws, to see how they struggled, how they failed, how they were rejected — but also how they got up and rose. I wanted to write stories about the heroic women of yesterday, so readers will be inspired to be heroes and trailblazers of tomorrow. That’s why I wrote Empress Wu’s story and Aiyi Shao’s story in The Last Rose of Shanghai, who was the first female entrepreneur in China, and the manager of The Paramount Ballroom in Shanghai. 

Because I came from China and I’m familiar with Chinese history and characters, I wanted to bring them over here and I wanted to create a refreshing, strong, and flawed Chinese women who have claimed a place in history in their own right.

LexObserver: What is the most challenging and rewarding part of your journey of pursuing a writer’s career in the U.S.?

Weina Dai Randel: I think my journey as a writer is not just an immigrant story but also a journey for many people who want to be a published author.

It took me 10 years to write my first novel, The Moon in the Palace. Then I pitched to agents at a conference. I met agents and editors who were very hesitant. The landscape of the publishing world was completely different. At that time, people were already very familiar with Amy Tan and Lisa See. Chinese stories were not popular at all.

Over four years, I received 82 rejection letters from agents. Publishing is also very subjective. Sometimes it’s not about you. It’s about the editor and the agent, when your story resonates with them. A few years ago, people were saying in the publishing world that there were not enough Asian American editors or agents. Now, 10 years later, that at last has changed. I do see more Asian agents and more Asian editors. You see so many talented Chinese American writers and more books written in their own voices. 

I feel people, especially the publishers, will give a chance to Asian stories. Because of readers’ demand, we have some bookstores owned by Asian Americans, and they will sell books written by Asians. If you have readers, then you will have writers who write these stories, then you will have these publishers who will buy this kind of story. It goes altogether. But 10 years ago, there was not a cycle like that. 

LexObserver: What does being an Asian American writer mean to you? Why is it important for people to read books written by Asian American writers?

Weina Dai Randel: I want to be the person, a friend, who shows you about Chinese culture and a friend that you can talk to when you misunderstand certain incidents in China. I don’t want to educate people, but I want to be the link that can provide you with some kind of understanding.

Fiction is the best way for me. That allows a writer to create an immense world rich with characters, histories, and cultures. 

These days, we are very busy and preoccupied with our own problems.  Sometimes you have to get out of this world and see what’s happening around you. That’s why it’s important to listen to Asian American stories and other minority stories, which will give you a different understanding of your own reality.

LexObserver: What do you want the Lexington community to take away from this month? Any words to the youth and adults?

Weina Dai Randel: I’m often asked what kind of suggestions you have for aspiring writers. I know 82 rejection letters and 10 years of writing is a lot. But the thing is, being a writer and going on this artistic journey is a challenge. Don’t be afraid, just keep going. Sometimes the rejections are the stepping stones that can help you reach the next level.