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Nina Mingya Powles Biography

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“Drift,” she mouths softly in English, “what is drift?” My mother translates into her language, not one of mine. I try to make myself remember by writing 婆 over and over on squares of paper covering the walls so I am surrounded by the women and the water radicals they hold close. The tips of waves touch me in my sleep.”

Language Women Chinese

Book:Magnolia, 木蘭

Source: Magnolia, 木蘭

“My phone is vibrating, telling me: You have a new memory. Here is a stream of pictures collected into an album, all taken somewhere far away. Home is not a place but a string of colours threaded together and knotted at one end.”

Book:Magnolia, 木蘭

Source: Magnolia, 木蘭

“It is tiring to be a woman who loves to eat in a society where hunger is something not to be satisfied but controlled. Where a long history of female hunger is associated with shame and madness. The body must be punished for every misstep; for every "indulgence" the balance of control must be restored. To enjoy food as a young woman, to opt out every day from the guilt expected of me, is a radical act, of love.”

Book:Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai

Source: Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai

“I often end up biking home with a paper bag in my basket, a warm boluo bao inside. Whatever the time of year, they remind me of sun, tropical heat, being with family. Mooncakes, the little cakes eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, are meant to look like moons. Boluo bao look like shining suns.”

Culture Food Hong Kong

Book:Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai

Source: Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai

“It is June. I am in Shanghai and I am not tired. June in Shanghai is for cold bubble tea, for kissing, for three-yuan ice creams and misty rain mixing with sweat on skin.”

Food Summer Shanghai

Book:Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai

Source: Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai

“Home sickness comes in waves, sometimes leaving me reeling.”

Food Nostalgia Homesickness

Book:Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai

Source: Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai

“I wander back to class along Zhengsu Lu in the afternoon, my floral-print umbrella in one hand, an ice cream in the other. The air has that pre-lightning feel. It is June.”

Summer Shanghai

Author:Nina Mingya Powles