ONE OF THE MAJOR TOPICS OF THE DECADE: The rise of China has always been of interest but since the U.S.-China trade war and COVID-19, interest in China has never been greater. Chiu aims to expand our understanding of China's quest for global power.
A HIGHLY EXPERIENCED FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT AND CHINA EXPERT WHO IS OF CHINESE BACKGROUND AND A WOMAN IN A FIELD DOMINATED BY MEN:Geopolitical books are largely still the domain of white male authors. China Unbound distinguishes itself in the marketplace for having a young female author, born in Hong Kong and an immigrant to Canada. Chiu was also stationed in China for seven years as a foreign correspondent for major international publications, including top news agencies Agence France Presse (AFP) and Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), and in Hong Kong, she reported for the South China Morning Post, The Economist, and Associated Press (AP). Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Foreign Policy, BBC World, The Atlantic, Newsweek, Quartz, Al Jazeera, GlobalPost, CBC, and NPR.
AN AUTHOR WITH A HUGE SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING: For a non-celebrity journalist from Canada, Joanna Chiu has a huge social media following, with more than 47,000 Twitter followers. She is also a leader and connector within the global China experts' community and is the founder and chair of the NüVoices editorial collective, which celebrates the creative and academic work of women working on the subject of China. In addition to the NüVoices podcast, of which Chiu is a co-host, the group also published an online magazine featuring essays, multimedia projects, and other original content. And she is an experienced speaker who has travelled around the world delivering lectures and participating in forums, including a Masterclass tour on China's rapidly evolving place in the world in three cities in Australia with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and a forum on digital technology and authoritarianism at Columbia University in which Chiu's remarks were highlighted in The Guardian. Most recently, her comments on the rise of anti-Asian racism and mistrust towards the Chinese government was featured in an episode of Canada's popular Canadaland podcast.
NORTH AMERICAN AND INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS: The author is incredibly well-connected internationally and has provided our international rights department with a list of influential contacts that can help promote the book in Canada, the U.S., Australia, Europe, and Asia. In addition, she attended Columbia University Journalism School.