From a Whis­per to a Ral­ly­ing Cry: The Killing of Vin­cent Chin and the Tri­al that Gal­va­nized the Asian Amer­i­can Move­ment  was rec­og­nized with a YALSA Excel­lence in Non­fic­tion Hon­or 2022.

Paula Yoo’s new work of YA non­fic­tion will explore a sem­i­nal moment in Kore­an Amer­i­can his­to­ry, Sa I Gu, the 1992 Los Ange­les civ­il unrest move­ment. Ris­ing from the Ash­es: How the 1992 Los Ange­les Upris­ing Bridged Two Com­mu­ni­ties will focus on the destruc­tion and rebirth of L.A.’s his­toric Kore­atown, tak­ing an in-depth look at the rela­tion­ship between the Kore­an Amer­i­can and Black com­mu­ni­ties dur­ing these events and since. Pub­li­ca­tion is slat­ed for fall 2023 from Nor­ton Young Read­ers (W.W. Nor­ton & Co.). Learn more.

Pho­to at left, cred­it Hyung­won Kang: Decem­ber 2021: Paula Yoo vis­it­ed West­ern Avenue in L.A.’s Kore­atown, where many stores had burned to the ground in 1992. Almost 30 years lat­er, trendy fash­ion bou­tiques, boba cof­fee­hous­es and Kore­an pop cul­ture street art like “Squid Game” have risen from those ash­es, as well as the birth of a new sol­i­dar­i­ty move­ment between the Kore­an Amer­i­can and Black communities.