Yu & Me Books

Yu & Me Books is the first Asian-American woman-owned bookstore in NYC, showcasing diverse voices and immigrant stories not typically seen in other bookstores. Lucy Yu opened the bookstore in 2021 after over a year of personally collecting books from thrift stores, a GoFundMe campaign, and continuing to work her full-time job as a chemical engineer. She wanted to create a bookstore that serves as an inclusive space for Asian, Black, and Latinx voices, which she didn’t have growing up. Yu & Me Books has a cozy reading area and offers refreshments such as beer, wine, and coffee to sip on while you read. They host NYT best-selling authors, many of whom are Asian-American, frequently for book readings and signings that attract long lines and extensive media coverage. This local bookstore serves as an inclusive oasis of books, prints, and community in Chinatown.

This is the first drawing I did in my journey into art activism. It's amazing that a drawing of a building lead to a drawing of a neighborhood, then to a drawing of an iconic highway, and then to Chinatowns nation wide. To me Chinatowns represent the start of the American Dream for many immigrants. Eventually I would like to research the effect of war on immigration to create empathy for anyone who has had to flee their homeland.