Anne Liu Kellor and guests present 'Mixed Roots'

Third Place Books is thrilled to welcome Seattle author Anne Liu Kellor for a presentation on her Mixed Roots: Writers on Multiracial Identity & Both/And Belonging . With compelling, intimate, lyrical and conversational prose, the voices in Mixed Roots honor the realities we’ve inherited around race, while pushing against old assumptions— encouraging readers to embrace paradox and non-binary belonging.

Anne will be joined by anthology contributors Samantha Chagollan, Dawn Noel Chen, Alayna Erhart, Elisabeth Vasquez Hein, and Leticia Lopez.

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

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This event is free to attend. Registration is required in advance.

About Mixed Roots. . .

“An unprecedented ode to the wide range of mixed-root experiences and what is shared across difference. Required reading for anyone who has ever been asked what are you? I want everyone to read this.”
—Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood and The Dry Season

Multiracial people are everywhere—but so often their stories are oversimplified, overlooked, or left out of the narrative altogether. Mixed Roots: Writers on Multiracial Identity & Both/And Belonging collects 29 voices from different generations, geographies, and mixes of race and ethnicity. Combining powerful personal narratives with community-oriented perspectives, Mixed Roots explores themes of inherited belief systems, racism, whiteness, migration, language, trauma, ancestry, and healing.

When society so often wants to divide us into either/or categories, Mixed Roots reminds us that multiracial experiences are complex and can be told in different ways. This anthology engages with the familiar questions of “what are you?” or “where do you belong?” with nuance, dispelling the idea that there is ever one right way to identify. In a time of increased polarization, Mixed Roots invites more of us to examine the historical legacies and harm caused by racism within ourselves and our communities.

Anne Liu Kellor is a mixed-race Chinese American writer, editor, and teacher based in Seattle. Her memoir, Heart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging, was a 2021 IPPY Winner and Washington State Book Award finalist. Kellor's essays have appeared in publications such as Memoir Land, Longreads, New England Review, Fourth Genre, and YES! Magazine. She loves supporting other writers through her work as a facilitator of online creative nonfiction classes, workshops for multiracial people, and a yearlong nonfiction manuscript program for women and non-binary writers. You can learn more at: www.anneliukellor.com

Samantha Chagollan is a writer of mixed Mexican American descent living in southern California. Her work has been featured in Alebrijes Review, Latin@ Literatures, Yellow Arrow Journal, and the anthologies Nonwhite and Woman and The COVID Monologues. She is currently writing Homesick, a memoir.

Dawn Noel Chen is a writer and mother who lives in Tucson, Arizona. She is at work on a mystery novel set in the San Juan Islands. Its mixed-race protagonist inspired her to explore her own mixed-roots story.

Alayna Erhart is a mixed-race artist whose mediums of filmmaking, photography, and writing are guided by her conviction to celebrate the bold, brave, and tender truths that make us human. She's currently developing the manuscript for her memoir––an interrogation of emotional inheritance, intergenerational assimilation, and finding her inner light in an implausible place.

Elisabeth Vasquez Hein is a Filipina American writer and photographic artist based in Seattle. Influenced by her upbringing in disparate geographies, Elisabeth’s work explores displacement, in-betweenness, and belonging. She is a 2025 PEN America Emerging Voices fellow, and her writing can be found in CRAFT, the Pinch, Bellingham Review, Silk Road Review, and Salt Hill Journal.

Leticia H. Lopez is an emerging writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Brian, and animal children: Lola, Benny and Juno. Her professional and creative background includes non-profit administration, sexuality education, youth development and theatre. She is working on a memoir.

About Third Place Books

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events