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Winnie M Li is the author of What We Left Unsaid, which is available now.
Winnie M Li is an American author and activist living in the UK with her partner and young son. A Harvard graduate, Winnie has written for travel guidebooks, produced independent feature films, programmed for film festivals, and developed eco-tourism projects. Her first novel Dark Chapter was nominated for an Edgar Award and translated into ten languages, followed by the critically acclaimed Complicit.
A survivor and advocate against gendered violence, she holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and teaches creative writing and media studies.
What We Left Unsaid is an expansive novel about three estranged siblings who confront a family secret and larger truths about Asian-American experiences in post-Covid America.
With her partner and her toddler, Winnie embarked on The Great American Road Trip (the same route the Chu siblings take!) to inspire her writing of What We Left Unsaid. The result is a transportive, honest, and thought-provoking story that explores themes of travel, identity, and family.
Get to know Winnie as she talks favorite novels, inspiration behind What We Left Unsaid, her TBR and more!
What are some of your favorite novels?
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver for its epic sweep, unique setting, and carefully considered, poignant character perspectives. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell for its sheer audaciousness, bold storytelling, and very clever use of genre. Would I be labelled old-fashioned if I said most novels by Thomas Hardy? I consider him a proto-feminist writer, but it’s his evocative sense of a place and a time gone by that really enchants me in the 21st century.
When did you know you wanted to become an author?
Probably around the age of six. In first grade, I wrote this story about a leprechaun named Shamrock Greenman for St. Patrick’s Day. It was probably terrible, but I remember the sheer joy of just spinning a story out of thin air. Shortly after that, we were asked to draw a picture of what we wanted to be growing up. I drew myself writing at a desk, and wrote ‘AUTHOR’ underneath it. (Or probably AUTOR, because my spelling wasn’t very good at the time.)b
What inspired you to write What We Left Unsaid?
So I knew I wanted to write a Great American Road Trip story. To be honest, I probably came up with the idea for the novel to give myself an excuse to go drive Route 66! But the other strand was wanting to explore sibling relationships in adulthood. I wanted to imagine what would happen if three siblings, who had grown really far apart in middle age, were thrown together on a weeklong road trip together. Would they revert to their childhood dynamics? Would they get over their petty jealousies? Would they arrive at a deeper understanding of each other?
Can you tell us more about taking the same Great American Road Trip that your characters embarked on? Why was it important for you to go on the journey as well?
Aside from satisfying my own wanderlust , it was pretty essential for me to actually visit the places I was going to write about. So many locations like Cadillac Ranch, Tucumcari, and of course, the Grand Canyon can’t be authentically described in writing if you haven’t been there in person. Also, key plot points and revelations on the siblings’ emotional journey map onto specific physical locations along Route 66. Having been to these places in real life, I could then imagine how the characters would interact with that town or monument or landscape – and that would have been impossible to do, without having gone on the trip myself.
What was your favorite part or chapter to write?
There’s a ‘big swing’ that I take towards the end of the novel, which readers probably don’t see coming. On one hand, I wanted to show that random, unexpected things really can happen when you travel, and you have to be resourceful to deal with them. That scene also serves as the pay-off for three different character arcs. But more importantly, it was just fun to write. I told myself: ‘If I’m writing a road trip story, I also want to write a car chase.’ So I did!
What are you currently reading and what’s on your TBR (to be read) list?
I’m reading a lot of non-fiction right now, so currently Docile: Memoir of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl by Hyeseung Song and the deservedly famous Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The current novel I’m reading is Bittersweet by Hattie Williams, and next on my TBR are Audition by Katie Kitamura and Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda. To be honest, my TBR list shames me, because I feel like there’s so many other books out there I need to read! (But I think that’s a common sentiment among book-lovers).
