On this week’s episode, Carmen Rita Wong joins us to discuss Why Didn’t You Tell Me?: A Memoir (Crown, July 12). Wong—the author of a series of novels and two bestselling advice books, a former professor, nonprofit board leader, national advice columnist, and television host who co-created CNBC’s On the Money—was raised Dominican Chinese in New York City and New Hampshire. In her standout debut memoir, she unravels a family secret that ordered, and reordered, her life.

Here’s a bit from Kirkus’ starred review of Why Didn’t You Tell Me?: “[Wong] begins with a hard fact: Peter Wong, the man she calls Papi to this day, was paid to marry her mother, Lupe, so Lupe’s family could get green cards. Lupe and Papi separated when the author was young, and she and her adored older brother were moved from the lap of the Dominican community to the apartment of the man who would become her mother’s second husband.…Though Wong’s relationship with her mother was somewhere between fraught and disastrous, and though Lupe died without correcting her most serious lie, the author does a commendable job of trying to understand who her mother was.…Snappy writing, unusual empathy, and an unexpectedly satisfying resolution send this memoir to the front of the pack.”

Wong and host Megan Labrise discuss the provenance of the interrogative title, and to whom the question is directed; the questions Wong had to ask and answer in order to write the book; structuring a memoir like a whodunit; the expectations of others, and the importance of freedom of expression; what brought her the most joy to write about; the path from manuscript to publication; thoughts about truth in memoir; and much more.

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