Jeff Chang has written extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music.

He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts + Committee on Black Performing Arts at Stanford University.

He has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a winner of the North Star News Prize. He was named by The Utne Reader as one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World”.

His first book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, garnered many honors, including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. He is also the editor of Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop.

He is currently working on three new book projects: Who We Be: The Colorization of America (St. Martin’s Press, 2012), Youth (Picador Big Ideas/Small Books series), and a biography of Bruce Lee (Little, Brown).

Jeff was a founding editor of ColorLines magazine, and a Senior Editor/Director at Russell Simmons’ 360hiphop.com. He has written for the The Nation, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Vibe, Foreign Policy, and Mother Jones, among many others.

In 1993, he co-founded and ran the influential hip-hop indie label, SoleSides, now Quannum Projects, helping launch the careers of DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth Speaker. He has helped produce over a dozen records, including the “godfathers of gangsta rap”, the Watts Prophets.

He covered the 2000 presidential elections for 360hiphop. In 2007, he interviewed Barack Obama for the cover of Vibe.

After being politicized by the anti-apartheid and anti-racist movements at the University of California at Berkeley, Jeff worked as a community, labor and student organizer, and as a lobbyist for the students of the California State University system.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Cal and a master’s degree in Asian American Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles and has published scholarly articles on culture and race relations in Hawai’i and Los Angeles. He has lectured at dozens of colleges, universities, festivals, and institutions in the U.S. and around the world.

He was an organizer of the inaugural National Hip-Hop Political Convention and has served as a board member for several organizations working for change through youth and community organizing, media justice, culture, the arts, and hip-hop activism. In 2006, he was selected to participate in a conversation with Tom Hayden in the prestigious Mario Savio Memorial Lecture.

Born of Chinese and Native Hawaiian ancestry, Jeff was raised in Hawai’i where he attended ‘Iolani School. He lives in California. He is a big fan of Japanese curry and poi, but not at the same time.

Upcoming Appearances

For a complete list of Jeff's appearances, check Dates.

Can't Stop Won't Stop Extras

• A Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Q+A By Oliver Wang
  An exclusive interview about the book from 2004
• A Tribute To Richie Perez
  The story of one of the Bronx greats–a Young Lord and a mentor to many.
• Interviews With The Author
  Four years of print, radio, and video interviews with Jeff Chang. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll order Chinese.
• Making A Name :: Book Excerpt
  It has become myth, a creation myth, this West Bronx party at the end of the summer in 1973…
• Writing The Book, Part 1
  From 2003, the first blog post on writing “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop”. Can it be that it was all so simple then?
• Writing The Book, Part 3 or 2.5
  Another blog post on writing “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” from the eve of release. Bonus angst: that vexing “Asian American question”.

Holla!

Please Note: Due to the massive amount of email it has become impossible to reply individually to interview requests for term papers. With apologies, we would like to recommend this list of interviews and Jeff's articles in the Reader. Thanks for understanding.

USA Interview Requests, Media Inquiries, or Review Copy Requests:

Please email here to reach James Meader at Picador Books.

UK and Australia Media Requests, Media Inquiries, or Review Copy Requests:

Please email here to reach Caroline Newbury at Ebury Press.

Speaking Engagements or Lectures:

Please email here to reach Charles Yao at the Lavin Agency. For more info on booking an engagement with Jeff, go here.

Literary Rights or Reprint Requests:

Please email here to reach Victoria Sanders at the Victoria Sanders Agency.

All other stuff:

Holla!

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