Lisa See interview with Yvonne Yorke
The Miami Book Fair, founded in 1984, has evolved into the one of the top literary festivals in the country. I attended this eight-day event this past November where more than 500 notable authors from around the world ? speaking English, Spanish, French and Haitian Creole, read and discussed their latest work.
One of those authors is New York Times best-selling author, Lisa See who writes poignantly of China and the lives of Chinese-Americans in such acclaimed novels as Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which was made into a film. Her latest endeavor, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, is a sweeping tea-infused charting the enduring connection between a Chinese mother and her daughter, and the history and of tea which has shaped their family?s destiny for generations. I sat down with Lisa to discuss her work, her writing process, and her views on critical versus commercial success for authors:
Yvonne Yorke: I?ve long enjoyed your stories with their depictions women?s lives China and in America, and obviously the meticulous research that goes into each novel.  Is it more important for you to write a critically-acclaimed book, which perhaps not many people read, or to write a book that is a huge commercial success"
 Lisa See: I think that if you?re a writer and you start with the mindset of commercial success and dollars, you are on the wrong path. I absolutely believe that.
Yvonne Yorke: If yo...