Today we’d like to introduce you to Shin Yu Pai.
Shin Yu, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I worked for 20+ years as a public events producer for lots of different kinds of organizations, including museums, literary organizations, and Atlas Obscura. During the pandemic, I was working at a major cultural institution in Seattle producing 25-30 events a month, when I realized that I didn’t want to gather people in rooms together during a public health crisis. It was also during a period of time when anti-Asian hate crime had risen dramatically and I wanted to see and hear different kinds of stories about my community in the media and to create platforms for storytelling that could be more impactful and wide-reaching.
So I pitched a podcast idea to my local public radio station. I competed again 70+ applications and was commissioned along with a handful of other producers to make a pilot for my show, with me as host and writer. Of the shows that were piloted, mine was the only one to be commissioned for an entire season. We produced three seasons together of my podcast “Ten Thousand Things” and won lots of awards, including a Regional Edward R Murrow Award, two awards from the Asian American Podcasters Association, and a Silver Signal Award. But KUOW was unable to continue funding the production of the show, so I’m taking the podcast independent and am in the process of finding a new production partner and distributor. 2025 is a big year for the show. Next year, I’ll partner with The Wing Luke Museum to produce a special exhibition on the podcast featuring objects from the show. And University of Washington Press is working with me on a book of my personal essays related to the podcast.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Public radio wasn’t ultimately the perfect fit for my work with storytelling. Radio is form of journalism, and while I am a journalist, I consider myself an artist first. With journalism, the emphasis is on the story vs. the storyteller or the storyteller’s relationship with the listener. I had to fit myself into a particular kind of format and voice where I wasn’t always able to let my personality or perspective fully come forward. Performing a version of yourself that isn’t authentically you has its consequences and its impacts, of course.
I’m trained as a poet and I’ve had to learn to write radio scripts for audio stories and work on tight production schedules. But my previous work writing for newspapers and ad agencies and dealing with daily and weekly deadlines prepared me well for working on quick timelines. That said, it was a project that I worked on outside of my day job and the demands on my time and attention took me away at times from family and other priorities. I had to mold to others and for the next iteration of the show, I’m much more clear that others should be molding to me.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am known as a poet. I am the author of 13 books, including most recently “Less Desolate” (Blue Cactus Press, 2023) and “No Neutral” (Empty Bowl, 2023). I write narrative and experimental lyric poetry. Last summer, I was awarded the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America for poetic genius. I served as the Civic Poet (Poet Laureate) of The City of Seattle from 2023 to 2024, and served as an ambassador for poetry while creating opportunities for the public to engage with poetry as an art form. During National Poetry Month in April 2024, I took over 7 different spaces around Seattle with poetry installations of poems sourced from community members. For this work, I was bestowed with a fellowship from the Academy of American Poets. I also make large-scale video poetry projects that are projected into public spaces like Redmond City Hall and the King Street Station Clock Tower in Seattle.
I’m also known as a personal essay writer. This past spring I published “Small Doses of Awareness” (Chronicle Books, 2024), a book on psychedelic microdosing that was co-authored with my friend Amy Wong Hope.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Listen and subscribe to Ten Thousand Things wherever you get your podcasts. You can leave us a review at Apple Podcasts. Follow me on social media @shinyupai.
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