Creative Nonfiction

When I’m not drawing maps  or managing art projects, I’m a creative writer.

The Second Long March—Memoir from a Witness to China’s Transformation

The Second Long March  is my memoir of China’s second revolution—an economic one—covering the time period from 1981 to 2005, published by Atmosphere Press in September, 2022.

There’s more detailed information on the book website: https://secondlongmarch.com

I have added photos from my China experiences to the portfolio page of this website; you may link to them here: https://patti-isaacs.com/portfolio/photos/

The book grew out of a blog I started some years ago, which I called Time Travel in China. You can still see posts here: http://timetravelinchina.wordpress.com/ 

Other Published Writing

Concrete, a book of essays focused on change in China, was published May 31, 2018. In it, my essay, The Heart of Old Xi’an, reflects my observations of a city where I first lived in 1981. I returned in 2005 to experience the impact of China’s modernization on this ancient capital. With all that had changed, could the city retain its old soul?

About Concrete by the Shanghai Literary Review

Rules of the Road about cycling in old and new China, appeared in the August/September 2018 issue of Adventure Cyclist Magazine. The article is copyrighted and cannot be viewed online, only in the printed piece or by subscription.

 

 

I’ve written articles on the solar eclipses. The Minneapolis StarTribune published one article in December, 2016 Chasing the Sky in anticipation of the August, 2017 event, and an update after the eclipse occurred, Chasing the total eclipse: Sometimes the cosmic transcends the personal

The Voyage Report also published an article in anticipation of the 2017 eclipse:

The Voyage Report Eclipse Column

My late husband and I taped two podcasts for TheVoyageReport before and after the August 2017 total solar eclipse that crossed the United States.

Voyage Report podcast—Eclipse Chasers. 

Reflections on a Celestial Milestone

I’ve published pieces advocating for progressive health care reform.

This piece aired on KQED, San Francisco Public Radio’s Perspectives Series

http://www.kqed.org/a/perspectives/R905050737

I’m now working on a food memoir about growing up in Mid-century Middle America, eating both mushroom-soup casseroles and Jewish deli food—and the changes that came with marrying an Italian and living in China. But from the time I was an infant my parents, concerned about my weight, put me on a series of diet regimens. That complicates my story.