Media & Press
Upcoming Events
Hedgebrook Playwrights Showcase
Monday, December 9, 2024
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Seattle Rep 155 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109 (Map)
DETAILS
Susan is a featured speaker for the upcoming Hedgebrook Playwrights Showcase, an event to amplify and delight in the work of Hedgebrook alumnae playwrights. Come celebrate with us as we get an intimate look into the playwriting process, with craft conversations, table readings, and a discussion about the future of theater in our changing world. Susan will be in conversation with past Seattle Poet Laureate and fellow Hedgebrook alumnae Jourdan Imani Keith to delve into the art and craft of genre jumping.
Model Minority Moms Podcast
Ditch the myth and do you.
Welcome to Model Minority Moms where we reckon with the myth of success in career, family and life. We’re Jeanette, Kate, and Susan – Harvard classmates and Asian American working moms who get real about the pressures of fitting in while standing out.
“The brutal honesty with which you talk about parenthood, race, money, privilege, career, family and success is what keeps me coming back.”
–Wei W.
”I was totally drawn in by your humility, vulnerability, and honesty in talking about all kinds of stuff that I have also been reflecting on but seldom take time to talk about aloud.”
–Tracy N.
“When I feel stressed, listening to you guys makes me feel more validated and less stressed. It’s like instant access to my girlfriends who get it.”
–Amy M.
“Born from a series of frantic text messages among friends, [Model Minority Moms] addresses the messy, shameful and lonely realities of parenting in today’s world.”
Podcast Appearances
Check out Susan’s latest podcast appearances and listen as she gets real about her life, memoir, and her TMI-thoughts on the world.
Moms Don’t Have Time To Read Books
with Zibby Owens
Susan joins Zibby Owens ("NYC's Most Powerful Book-fluencer" — Vulture) to discuss The Manicurist’s Daughter (and Zibby’s April Book Club Pick!).
LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS
Lemonada’s Add to Cart
with Kulap Vilaysack & SuChin Pak
Susan joins the pod to create a trifecta of Asian Auntie shenanigans. It’s an emotionally raw conversation that will leave you hopeful that generational healing is just as real as the trauma.
LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS
Glamorous Trash
with Chelsea Devantez
Chelsea is joined by Susan to explore “Love, Lucy,” the memoir of comedy icon Lucille Ball. They unpack Lucy’s rise to superstardom with “I Love Lucy,” her passionate and rocky romance with Desi Arnaz, and her relentless battles against sexism that drove her to break barriers—and a few car windows—along the way.
LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS
Read. Talk. Grow.
from The Mayo Clinic
A Mayo clinic professor and anesthesiologist reviews what happened during Susan’s mother's plastic surgery to unpack the 5 questions you should ask before a major surgery that could save your life. Listen for practical tips on how to advocate for yourself and your loved ones in the very intimidating healthcare setting.
LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS
Grief Out Loud
from The Dougy Center
Susan chats with Jana DeCristofaro from The Dougy Center, a Portland-based group supporting grieving kids, teens, and young adults. Susan reflects on how their resources are what she wished for after her mother’s tragic death. Together, they explore grief’s many facets, including its unexpected joys.
LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS
They Call Us Bruce
with Jeff Yang and Phil Yu
Susan discusses grief, trauma, body image, her family's unwillingness to discuss what happened, and her attempts to find acceptance and purpose elsewhere — including what turned out to be a cult. A yoga cult. Also: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of writing The Manicurist's Daughter.
LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS
TV & Video Appearances
TEDx: How to make peace with your belly fat
Learn how Susan changed her perspective on beauty, self-love, and forgiveness in her boldly vulnerable TEDx talk.
NBC News Daily
Watch Susan’s recent appearance on NBC News to hear more about her hopes around avenging her mother’s death, and how she advocates for better safety measures for women of color.
CBS News: Susan Lieu avenges death of her mother through art
Watch Susan on KPIX (CBS News) and hear more about how she helped the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog to pass AB 35: the Fairness for Injured Patients Act.
140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother
Watch the trailer and stream Susan’s critically-acclaimed one-woman show, 140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother on demand.
Radio Appearances
Seeking Vengeance
Sound Effect
The Record with Bill Radke
The Jimmy Malone Show
In the Press
What’s Susan been up to? Explore her latest interviews, reviews, and profiles.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Susan Lieu explores the complicated life of the woman who raised her in The Manicurist’s Daughter
NPR
In 'The Manicurist's Daughter,' a refugee family goes on after its matriarch's death
THE WASHINGTON POST
No one wanted to talk about her mother’s death. So she wrote a play about it.
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
Susan Lieu writes, acts and produces her touring solo show ‘140 LBS’ — while pregnant
NBC NEWS
Playwright who lost mother to plastic surgery malpractice explores impossible Vietnamese beauty standards in solo show
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Review: SF’s Columbarium, where revenge and beauty myths go to die in ‘140 lbs’
CROSSCUT
Meet Your Maker: Artist Susan Lieu on motherhood, making money and medical malpractice
diaCRITICS
140LBS for Mother’s Day
AMERICAN THEATRE
Why Is Susan Lieu Self-Funding a 10-City Tour?
The Seattle Times
In ‘Over 140 LBS,’ theater artist Susan Lieu continues exploring ‘how beauty killed my mother’
Seattle Magazine
The Many Sides of Susan Lieu, Actor, Activist and Game-Changing Producer
Datebook
Bay Area books: 22 new works to energize your spring reading
Electric Lit
75 Books By Women of Color to Read in 2024
Goodreads
Goodreads Members' 63 Most Anticipated Books of 2024
Library Journal
The Readers’ Almanac | Books To Know in 2024
Brit+Co
10 Hot New Books Coming In March 2024 To Read Over Spring Break
Likewise
The Best New Memoirs and Biographies from March 2024
Bookpage
In her deeply moving memoir, Susan Lieu tries to find closure after her mother’s untimely death.
ShelfAwareness
Susan Lieu channels decades of grief over her childhood experience of losing her mother into a mesmerizing, raw debut memoir, The Manicurist's Daughter.
The Press Democrat
Susan Lieu returns home to Santa Rosa to talk about debut memoir ‘The Manicurist’s Daughter’
Mochi Magazine
Why Susan Lieu Wants To Be More Than a Starving Artist
Culture Study
The Manicurist's Daughter: Excavating history as a member of the "1.5 generation"
Forbes
In capturing her own search for identity and closure, Lieu offers hope, solidarity and empathy to generations of readers.
The Rumpus
Courage, Confidence, and Craft: A Conversation with Susan Lieu
M.M.Lafleur’s The M Dash
“I felt a new kind of hunger”: How Susan Lieu Found Purpose Through Performance