Curtis Chin | Presented by Sidetrack Bookshop

Sidetrack is celebrating Royal Oak Pride with Curtis Chin, author of the memoir Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant
Curtis Chin will appear at Sidetrack Bookshop to talk about his award-winning memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned In A Chinese Restaurant , about growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980’s Detroit. A meet and greet and signing will follow the discussion. This author talk and signing is part of the Queer Lit Fest at Royal Oak Pride!
Date : Sunday, July 26, 2026, 10:30am. Doors open at 10am.
Location : Sidetrack Bookshop, 325 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak, MI 48067
Tickets :
-$26.25 - Includes one general admission seat to the event and signing line with one paperback copy of Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant .
-$5 - Includes one general admission seat to the event and signing line.
Additional copies of Everything I Learned... will be available for purchase at the event (while supplies last).
About Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant
This poignant memoir tells the story of Curtis Chin’s time growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980’s Detroit. Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone—from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples—could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, beneath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city’s spiraling misfortunes; and where—between helpings of almond boneless chicken, sweet-and-sour pork, and some of his own, less-savory culinary concoctions—he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, to his beloved family, and to himself. Served up by the cofounder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and structured around the very menu that graced the tables of Chung’s, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant is both a memoir and an invitation: to step inside one boy’s childhood oasis, scoot into a vinyl booth, and grow up with him—and perhaps even share something off the secret menu.
About Curtis Chin
Curtis Chin is the Detroit-native author of the award-winning memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned In A Chinese Restaurant , which was named a Stonewall Honor Book, 2025-26 Great Michigan Read, and a 2024 Michigan Notable Book. A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the nonprofit's first Executive Director. He went on to write comedy for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appétit, the Detroit Free Press, and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His essay in Bon Appétit was just selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023, and his short doc, "Dear Corky," premiered on American Masters (PBS). He is currently working on a new Chinese Restaurant project.