Year of the Tiger

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - ONE OF USA TODAY'S MUST-READ BOOKS - This groundbreaking memoir offers a glimpse into an activist's journey to finding and cultivating community and the continued fight for disability justice, from the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project

"Alice Wong provides deep truths in this fun and deceptively easy read about her survival in this hectic and ableist society." --Selma Blair, bestselling author of Mean Baby

In Chinese culture, the tiger is deeply revered for its confidence, passion, ambition, and ferocity. That same fighting spirit resides in Alice Wong.

Drawing on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more, Alice uses her unique talent to share an impressionistic scrapbook of her life as an Asian American disabled activist, community organizer, media maker, and dreamer. From her love of food and pop culture to her unwavering commitment to dismantling systemic ableism, Alice shares her thoughts on creativity, access, power, care, the pandemic, mortality, and the future. As a self-described disabled oracle, Alice traces her origins, tells her story, and creates a space for disabled people to be in conversation with one another and the world. Filled with incisive wit, joy, and rage, Wong's Year of the Tiger will galvanize readers with big cat energy.

These book club questions are from the publisher's website.

Book club questions for Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life is a revolutionary archive and collage of Alice Wong’s past, present, and future. In what ways is the totality of this memoir, and the format it is written activism? How has this book added to your perspective of activism and activists?

What does this work offer to the landscape of memoir as a form of storytelling by and about disabled people?

Cats, their features, and the tiger essence are present throughout the memoir. In what ways does the tone, voice, and flow of this memoir embody these cunning and majestic animals? What big cat practices and rituals resonate with you?

Documenting and sharing conversations with family, members of the disability community, and friends are some of the ways Alice contributes to disability culture and activism. Why is it important for disabled people to create and curate public archives of our lives? In what ways is archival work a Disability Justice practice?

Alice writes about her disabled body as an oracle. What changes need to happen for our world to listen and amplify more disabled oracles? What guidance does this memoir offer to better care, love, and support oracles?

Undergirding her truths and stories is an air of fantasy, science-fiction, and insatiable curiosity for other worlds yet to be conjured and explored. How has leaning into science-fiction and fantasy guided her activism? In what ways has this also brought about unanswered questions?

There’s no shortage of humor, snark, and unapologetic mic-drops throughout Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life. These sentences, intertwined throughout the book, reveal Alice’s personality and voice behind “the work” she is most known for. What things surprised you to learn about her? What moments gave you joy? Were there times when you also shared in her rage?

There are so many moments of bold, flavorful, unapologetic, and cunning ways that joy emerges throughout this book. Experiencing and sharing joy is a ritual Alice lives by and lives for. Why is joy so important and in what ways can it be both life-giving and weaponized?

Year of the Tiger Book Club Questions PDF

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