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Lan Samantha Chang was born to Chinese immigrants, who left China when the communist government came to power in 1949. Her parents moved to the small Midwestern city of Appleton, Wisconsin. Chang said that since her Midwestern youth, she's “constantly been moving, perhaps unconsciously to replicate my parents' experiences.” Her books—Hunger (1998), a collection of stories, and the novel Inheritance (2004)—demonstrate a desire to not only learn about and replicate her family and cultural history, but also to discover more about how culture and family relate to identity. She holds a BA in East Asian Studies from Yale, an MPA from Harvard, and an MFA from the Iowa Writer's Workshop—an experience she said was “the best thing I ever did.” She is currently the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer at Harvard University. Ms. Chang was interviewed over lunch at the Silver City Grill, a restaurant in the Ridpath Hotel, downtown Spokane, Washington. Before the interview, we discussed politics, moving, then her writing process.