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Qian Julie Wang speaker
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Qian Julie Wang

New York Times Bestselling Author, 'Beautiful Country: A Memoir'
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About

Gender: Female
Nationality: United States
Languages: English
Travels from: United States

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Biography Highlights

  • Civil Rights Litigator & Managing Partner, Gottlieb & Wang LLP
  • Advocate for Marginalized Communities' Education and Discrimination Rights

Biography

Civil rights litigator and New York Times bestselling author Qian Julie Wang uses her unique gift for storytelling to transcend the business, legal, political, and literary worlds and focus on the humanity at the heart of these issues.

Qian Julie’s debut Beautiful Country: A Memoir became an instant New York Times bestseller, and was heralded as “an incandescent debut from an astonishing new talent.” Lauded as an “essential book for our times” and named one of the New York Times Book Review’s “Notable Books of 2021,” Beautiful Country is a poignant and heartrending literary memoir that intimately retraces Qian Julie’s childhood footsteps where at age seven, she moved from China to Brooklyn, New York with her parents, and overnight went from being the daughter of professors to being deemed “illegal.” As a litigator, Qian Julie has been praised by clients as “exceptionally talented” and “exemplary.” For a decade, she has represented Fortune 500 corporations, governmental entities, and individuals in complex civil litigation. Qian Julie is now a managing partner at Gottlieb & Wang LLP and is dedicated to advocating for marginalized communities’ education and discrimination rights.

Qian Julie’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Cut, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and she has appeared on PBS Newshour, ABC News, NPR, BBC World Outlook, C-SPAN, The TODAY Show, among many others. A highly sought-after keynote speaker, Qian Julie is in demand for events with groups like the Association of Small and Rural Libraries, Datadog, the Nantucket and Savannah Book Festivals, Sentara Healthcare, and Central Synagogue, to name a few. For her open heart and strong passion for advocacy and bringing awareness to marginalized communities, she regularly receives rave reviews, such as: “Thanks to Qian Julie for a tremendous program last night. She gave such a beautifully crafted, powerful talk that had the audience alternatively chuckling, nodding, wiping their eyes, and occasionally even startled… Qian Julie is a supremely talented writer and thinker, and I am sure she will continue to challenge the world with her sharp and nuanced insights. And she couldn’t have been nicer and more gracious to staff and guests and trustees alike.” (Museum of the City of New York)

Videos

Speaking videos

Media, podcast appearances and interviews

Popular Talks

Civil rights litigator and New York Times bestselling author Qian Julie Wang offers this riveting talk inspired by her debut memoir Beautiful Country, which The New York Times called, “an incandescent debut from an astonishing new talent.” Qian Julie balances her powerful personal narrative with authenticity and humor and leaves a lasting impact on audiences of all kinds.

Available: In person, Virtually

Civil rights litigator and New York Times bestselling author Qian Julie Wang uses her unique gift for storytelling to transcend the business, legal, political, and literary worlds and focus on the humanity at the heart of these issues. Qian Julie shares both her personal experience as well as actionable strategies in this compelling talk.

Available: In person, Virtually

Civil rights litigator and bestselling memoirist Qian Julie Wang shares insights from her personal experience as a young person immigrating to the U.S., as well as her career advocating for marginalized communities. Qian Julie offers this riveting talk about the power of finding ‘home’.

Available: In person, Virtually

Civil rights litigator and bestselling memoirist Qian Julie Wang offers insights about the power of literacy and storytelling throughout childhood and adulthood in this meaningful talk for audiences of all kinds.

Available: In person, Virtually
Qian Julie'S

Testimonials

We were honored to have Qian Julie Wang as the keynote speaker at our annual forum for litigation finance, attended by an exclusive group of high-powered investors, litigators, and brokers. This is not a group that is easily influenced, so imagine our surprise when we read all the rave reviews in our feedback survey! Impressive, inspiring, thought provoking, and deeply moving — these were just some of the words our attendees used to describe Qian Julie’s keynote. She clearly has an important message, a way with words, and a special ability to connect with the audience. As someone who has been organizing events for over 20 years, I have no reservations about recommending Qian Julie. She took the time to learn about our audience and even agreed to an interview and book signing after her speech. She was an absolute pleasure to work with, and I hope to invite her back for another keynote soon.

Dealmakers Forums

ARSL is in your debt, not only for raising our awareness of your incredible memoir so we can share it with our communities, but for such strong validation of the important work happening in our libraries every day. It can be difficult for librarians to understand the long-term effects of their daily work and you made it so very clear. I think this evaluation quote puts it perfectly, "We really need to hear stories like this to empathize with our patrons and remember each one has their own unique story." We're already seeing LOTS of people naming your presentation specifically as their favorite conference program this year. I am not surprised. You'll remember how I (tearfully) said that you spoke right to our hearts and refilled some very shallow wells in that banquet hall.

Association of Small and Rural Libraries Conference

We are still taking in all the incredible points Qian Julie made during our talk today! I know I personally will carry so much of it with me going forward. She is absolutely amazing and we are so glad she agreed to speak with us.

Datadog

Thank you for your truly inspiring and transformative contributions to the Nantucket Book Festival. I do not think there is a person who saw and heard you Friday night or Saturday who could have failed to benefit from being in your presence. It is not often that I can say that an author I loved reading intensified so greatly my appreciation and inspiration through in person presentation. You are truly one of those authors who makes that happen. Many thanks for being with us, for being part of the Opening Night Celebration, which you elevated to a level we will be hard pressed to ever equal, and for your moving presentation on Saturday. You moved the audience to tears. I saw it.

Nantucket Book Festival

It was a WONDERFUL event, and I’m receiving such beautiful notes from attendees, such as: 'Last night’s interview with Qian Julie Wang was amazing. She is even MORE INCREDIBLE in person than in her book! How is that even possible?' and 'My wife and I were both riveted and in tears at various points. With determination, caring and sharp criticism she lays out just how broken our immigration system is, and how scarring it is for those trying to become citizens. WOW!'

Northeastern University School of Law

Please share our deepest thanks to Qian Julie for a tremendous program last night. She gave such a beautifully crafted, powerful talk that had the audience alternatively chuckling, nodding, wiping their eyes, and occasionally even startled… Qian Julie is a supremely talented writer and thinker, and I am sure she will continue to challenge the world with her sharp and nuanced insights. And she couldn’t have been nicer and more gracious to staff and guests and trustees alike.

Museum of the City of New York

That was one of the most powerful hours I have ever witnessed. She has such an incredible clarity, wisdom, and power to fight injustice. I am blown away. The combination of vulnerability, rage, healing, and ability to challenge trauma and violence is exceptional.

CUNY Lehman College

Books

Qian Julie Wang book

Beautiful Country: A Memoir of An Undocumented Childhood

BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK, OBAMA 2021 BOOK PICK and INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Hunger was a constant, reliable friend in Mei Guo. She came second only to loneliness.’ In China she was the daughter of professors. In Brooklyn her family is ‘illegal.’ Qian is just seven when she moves to America, the ‘Beautiful Country’, where she and her parents find that the roads of New York City are not paved with gold, but crushing fear and scarcity. Unable to speak English at first, Qian and her parents must work wherever they can to survive, all while she battles hunger and loneliness at school. Thus begins an extraordinary story that describes, in vivid colours, days labouring in sweatshops and sushi factories, nights scavenging the streets for furniture, and the terrifying moment when the family emerges from the shadows to seek emergency medical treatment for Qian’s mother. Qian Julie Wang’s memoir is an unforgettable account of what it means to live under the perpetual threat of deportation and the small joys and sheer determination that kept her family afloat in a new land. Told from a child’s perspective, in a voice that is intimate, poignant and startlingly lyrical, Beautiful Country is the story of a girl who learns first to live – and then escape – an invisible life. ‘A powerful, gripping insight into the world of an undocumented migrant in New York . . . beautifully written, with vivid scenes that linger in the mind long after finishing it’ Helena Merriman ‘A story that needs to be heard. Moving, beautiful, heartbreaking and even funny . . . I never wanted it to end’ Philippa Perry ‘Deeply compelling . . . I was moved by the love and resilience of this family thrust into darkness. The book casts an urgent light on a reality that extends way beyond America’s borders’ Hisham Matar, author of A Month in Siena and The Return ‘Astonishing . . . In restrained but beautiful prose, Wang honours her family’s sacrifices, but alerts us to the urgent realisation that they should not be necessary’ Nesrine Malik

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Beautiful Country: A Memoir of An Undocumented Childhood

BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK, OBAMA 2021 BOOK PICK and INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Hunger was a constant, reliable friend in Mei Guo. She came second only to loneliness.' In China she was the daughter of professors. In Brooklyn her family is 'illegal.' Qian is just seven when she moves to America, the 'Beautiful Country', where she and her parents find that the roads of New York City are not paved with gold, but crushing fear and scarcity. Unable to speak English at first, Qian and her parents must work wherever they can to survive, all while she battles hunger and loneliness at school. Thus begins an extraordinary story that describes, in vivid colours, days labouring in sweatshops and sushi factories, nights scavenging the streets for furniture, and the terrifying moment when the family emerges from the shadows to seek emergency medical treatment for Qian's mother. Qian Julie Wang's memoir is an unforgettable account of what it means to live under the perpetual threat of deportation and the small joys and sheer determination that kept her family afloat in a new land. Told from a child's perspective, in a voice that is intimate, poignant and startlingly lyrical, Beautiful Country is the story of a girl who learns first to live - and then escape - an invisible life. 'A powerful, gripping insight into the world of an undocumented migrant in New York . . . beautifully written, with vivid scenes that linger in the mind long after finishing it' Helena Merriman 'A story that needs to be heard. Moving, beautiful, heartbreaking and even funny . . . I never wanted it to end' Philippa Perry 'Deeply compelling . . . I was moved by the love and resilience of this family thrust into darkness. The book casts an urgent light on a reality that extends way beyond America's borders' Hisham Matar, author of A Month in Siena and The Return 'Astonishing . . . In restrained but beautiful prose, Wang honours her family's sacrifices, but alerts us to the urgent realisation that they should not be necessary' Nesrine Malik
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