Kitty Tsui

Kitty Tsui (born 1952) is a Chinese American author, poet, actor, and bodybuilder.[1] She was the first known Chinese American lesbian to publish a book (Words of a Woman who Breathes Fire, published in 1983).[2]

Kitty Tsui
Born	September 4, 1952 Hong Kong
Nationality	American
Occupation	Poet, author, artist, activist, actor
Notable work	The Words of a Woman Who Breathes Fire, Breathless, Sparks Fly.

Background

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Liverpool, England, Tsui graduated from San Francisco State University in 1975 with a Bachelor's degree in English language and literature.[3]

She is the author of Words of a Woman who Breathes Fire (the first known book by a Chinese American lesbian, published in 1983),[2] Breathless (a short story collection of erotica involving BDSM which won the Firecracker Alternative Book Award, published in 1996), and Sparks Fly (a novel written from the perspective of a gay leatherman in San Francisco, published in 1997). She has also been published in over ninety anthologies and journals.

Tsui has acted in stage productions with the Asian American Theater Company and Lilith Women's Theater, and has been featured in five films including Nice Chinese Girls Don't: Kitty Tsui, Framing Lesbian Fashion, and Women of Gold.[4] Tsui was a founding member of Unbound Feet, the first Asian American women's performance group, and a member of Unbound Feet Three.

In 1986, Tsui won the bronze medal at Gay Games II, and a gold medal at Gay Games III Vancouver Gay Games in women's physique and bodybuilding. She has competed in a variety of bodybuilding championships and competitions.[5]

She came out as a leather woman in 1988. She wrote the first leather column in the Midwest (it was called ”Leathertalk: Top to Bottom”, and published in Chicago Nightlines), gave workshops and presentations about leather, and judged leather competitions including but not limited to International Ms. Leather.[2] She wrote the piece “Sex does not equal death” for the 1996 anthology The second coming: a leatherdyke reader, edited by Patrick Califia and Robin Sweeney.[6]

She is widely recognized as a leader in the Asian Pacific Islander queer movement in San Francisco.[7] In 2016, she was given the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community’s Phoenix Award for her contributions to the San Francisco leather community and her work as an author, activist, and founding member of Unbound Feet.[8] In 2018, she was inducted into her alma mater, San Francisco State University's Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2019 she was commissioned to create a poem/video for a digital exhibit at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center titled, "A Day in the Life of Queer Asian Pacific America." She was one of twelve queer poets from the United States selected for this honor.[9] Lambda Literary listed Tsui as one of the 50 most influential lesbian and gay writers in the United States.[10]

References

1. Hawley, John C. (November 30, 2008). LGBTQ America Today: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313339905.
2. "Kitty Tsui | Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women & Transgender Community". apiqwtc.org. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
3. "Breathing Fire | SF State Magazine". magazine.sfsu.edu. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
4. "Kitty Tsui". Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
5. "Kitty Tsui". NAPAWF. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
6. "The second coming : a leatherdyke reader (Book, 1996)". [WorldCat.org]. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
7. Zimmerman, Bonnie (August 21, 2013). Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures. Routledge. ISBN 9781136787515.
8. "Bay Area Reporter :: Women of Trikone honored". Ebar.com. April 20, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
9. Kitty Tsui- 2018 SF State Hall of Fame Inductee, retrieved September 30, 2019
10. Yung, Judy; Chang, Gordon H.; Lai, H. Mark (2006). Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520243095.