Echopedia

Taiwanese American Pen Club

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Taiwanese American Pen Club

Taiwanese American Pen Club (|台美人筆會) is listed as a group member of the |Taiwan Center Foundation of the Greater Los Angeles.

Identity Snapshot

Role in the Community

  • Dr. Franklin Cheng (鄭炳全博士) is recorded in the TAH story corpus as the first president of the Taiwanese American Pen Club (profile published 2016-02-10, dating to 1998): 1998. His own 2025 memoir 旅美五十周年 corroborates and sharpens this: the club was founded at the 洛杉磯台灣會館 in 1998 and he was pushed into the founding-presidency role (possibly prompted by his decade of popular medical writing — 醫藥與生活 ×3 and 實用天然藥物); he records the club then spanning 五六十位作家分布美國各地 (鄭炳全 旅美五十周年, TJJ 2025-02-09).
  • The club’s own history of itself is held as a corpus record: 3. Brief History of Taiwanese American Pen Club 台美人筆會的簡介 (published 2017-06-12), and the club runs its own newsletter record (Taiwanese American Pen Club (TAPC) newsletter); a 2015-05 photo-album record documents its activities (05).
  • Presidents line, corpus-recorded (between the 1998 founding and the 2021 handover): |Dr. Tong Y. Chen 陳東榮醫師 served as president in 2014–2015 and in 2015 became publisher/chief editor of the TAPC official website (台美筆會網站) (55. Collection of Dr. Tong Y. Chen); a 2021 profile of his daughter 陳怡安 (Grace Huang) confirms him as 台美人筆會前會長, married to 李芬芬 — who appears as 副會長兼秘書 in the 2021 transition below (台美人之光：陳怡安出任哈佛醫學院主管教學, TJJ 2021-05-12). Artist-writer |李淑櫻 (Nami Yang) served as president 2016–2017 (her own page records the term; a 2025 世界台灣文化論壇 record names her as 前台美人筆會會長 and 太平洋時報藝文版主編 — 第118回世界台灣文化論壇 話畫時間, TJJ 2025-04-20). Her literary record in the corpus includes 04. Presidents between 2017 and the 2021 賴慧娜 handover: not yet named in corpus.
  • 2017 — 台美文藝 publication and launch: the club’s own 2017 report of the 台美文藝 launch (發表會 held 2017-06-17, per the article dated 2017-06-11) records the 1998 founding “由一群熱愛文藝勤於寫作的台美人”, the fixed biennial publication cycle, the 2017 issue’s 六十七篇佳作 from 四十多人, and the editorial committee 李彥禎、陳東榮、李芬芬、鄭炳全、秦雪華、林文政; president 李淑櫻 is named in the article, independently corroborating her 2016–2017 term, and she lists the club’s second-generation author introductions: 游朝凱、梁凱琳、Julia Wu、Jennifer Chow、楊小娜 (2017台美文藝出版 台美人筆會六月十七日舉辦發表會, TJJ 2017-06-11).
  • 2021 — mutual aid in crisis, corpus-recorded: during the September 2021 Bobcat Canyon fire evacuation near Arcadia, a 台美人筆會 member called an evacuated couple and brought them food to their hotel despite the pandemic risk — recorded as a “雪中送炭” community-warmth anecdote in a 2021-09-11 column (週末漫談音樂-84, TJJ 2021-09-11).
  • 2025 — 王淑芬 still serving as president: the 2025-05-12 republication of her pandemic essay 回家，好難 carries the author line “作者為台美人筆會會長”, the latest corpus record of her presidency following the 2021-12 handover (回家，好難 — 王淑芬, TJJ 2025-05-12; the earlier 2022-01-09 version is already linked above).
  • 2024 — 228-related co-hosting: the club co-hosted a lecture by second-generation author 楊小娜 (Shawna Yang Ryan, Green Island 綠島) on 2024-03-04 at the 大洛杉磯台灣會館 (Rosemead), alongside other 社團, as part of the 228 commemoration program (228紀念活動報導, TJJ 2024-05-30).
  • 2021-12-21 — documented leadership transition: after two years as president, 賴慧娜 handed over by member vote to 王淑芬 (Atlanta), herself a former 北美洲台灣婦女會總會長 and the 辣媽 column essayist; 李芬芬 was appointed 副會長兼秘書 and 林文政 財務; the ceremony drew 15 member families at Laguna Woods Village, with 賴慧娜 reporting that despite the pandemic the dispersed membership kept creating via group chat and the biennial 台美文藝 was about to publish (台美人筆會會長交接，賴慧娜交棒王淑芬, TJJ 2021-12-26). 王淑芬’s own book-launch and 2022 memoir records are also in the corpus (回家，好難 — 王淑芬).
  • The club’s writing appeared in the movement’s literary venue across a sustained run of club-attributed 台美文藝 issues in the TAH corpus: 79. 2004, 80. 2005, 81. 2006, 82. 2007, 09, 106. 2011 (edited by 鄭炳全), 633. 2015, 1117. 2017, 1337. 2019, 1365. 2021 and 2022 — a club-attributed run spanning 2004–2022.
  • The club has its own entry in the TAH encyclopedia corpus: 7. Taiwanese American Pen Club (LA) 台美人筆會.
  • The club was part of a wider overseas Taiwanese writers’ movement with sibling chapters — e.g. the Great New York chapter’s first president was Dr. Long Tsung Tsai 蔡榮聰醫師 ( 2005), mirroring Dr. Franklin Cheng’s role in LA, and the New York chapter’s 6th annual convention and New Year banquet took place in Morris Plains/NJ on 01/01/2020 (New York, 2020-01-01); an earlier annual meeting was held in Fairfield/NJ on 01/01/2019 (NJ, 2019-01-01). Sibling chapters include the Great New York region chapter (大紐約區海外台灣人筆會, annual 年刊 recorded at 491. 大紐約區海外台灣人筆會第六屆年刊, 2010) and the SF Bay Area/Silicon Valley chapter (15. 舊金山灣區矽谷海外台灣人筆會). Whether the LA-based club listed at Taiwan Center is the same body as these regional chapters or a separate LA chapter: HOLD, unresolved in corpus.

Source Notes

  • Content priority A: Name on Taiwan Center group-members page
  • Hub: |taiwancenter.org
  • Content priority C: Independent history not expanded from listing alone
  • |Taiwan Center
  • |taiwancenter.org
  • Corpus re-grep 2026-09-24 (slice 09230500-12): SKIP-new-facts — ZH+EN re-grep returns the same saturated hit set (216 鄭炳全, 台美文藝 club-attributed issues 80/82/333/1365, encyclopedia taiwanese-american-pen-club-la); no new absorbable material.
  • Deepened 2026-09-25 (slice 09240500-14): fresh ZH+EN grep (46 hit files) surfaced previously unabsorbed records now integrated above — 鄭炳全’s own 2025 founding memoir (洛杉磯台灣會館 1998), the club’s self-history record + TAPC newsletter + 2015 photo album, the documented 2021-12-21 賴慧娜→王淑芬 president handover, and the extended club-attributed 台美文藝 run (79/106/633/1117/1337/1366). Sibling New York chapter records now also list its 10th/12th/14th/15th anniversary records (ourjourneys12, important2016-24, 2018-27, videos133) — the LA-vs-regional-chapter HOLD stands.
  • Corpus re-grep 2026-10-10 (slice 10090400-24): fresh 5-dir grep (台美人筆會/Taiwanese American Pen Club/TAPC) surfaced two previously unabsorbed records now integrated — the 台美文藝 2006 club-attributed issue (81. 2006, closing the 79/80/82 gap) and the GNY chapter’s 2019-01-01 Fairfield/NJ annual meeting record; also corroborating is Ken Lee’s 2016 essay (ourjourneys264) naming 鄭炳全 as 台美人筆會會長 and Pacific Daily Times 社長. The TAPC hits in our-journeys-350 are the San Jose Presbyterian Church acronym, not the Pen Club — excluded. HOLD unchanged.
  • Corpus re-grep 2026-10-11 (slice 10101210-22): fresh 5-dir grep (台美人筆會/台美人笔会/Taiwanese American Pen Club/TAPC) surfaced the presidents line previously missing between the 1998 founding and the 2021 handover — 陳東榮醫師 (2014–2015, per his own people page + 2021 daughter profile naming him 前會長, married to 李芬芬) and 李淑櫻/Nami Yang (2016–2017, per her people page + 2025 世界台灣文化論壇 record naming her 前台美人筆會會長) — plus the 2024-03-04 co-hosted 楊小娜 (Green Island) 228 lecture at 台灣會館. Gap 2017–2021 presidents noted as un-named in corpus. LA-vs-regional-chapter HOLD unchanged.
  • Corpus re-grep 2026-10-12 (slice 10120000-22): fresh 5-dir grep (台美人筆會/台美人笔会/Taiwanese American Pen Club/TAPC) surfaced three previously unabsorbed records now integrated — the club’s own 2017-06-11 台美文藝 launch report (biennial cycle, 六十七篇/四十多人, editorial committee 李彥禎/陳東榮/李芬芬/鄭炳全/秦雪華/林文政, president 李淑櫻 named in-text, 2nd-gen author intros), the 2021 Bobcat-fire mutual-aid anecdote, and the 2025-05-12 author line confirming 王淑芬 still president. The 2017 article corroborates 李淑櫻’s 2016–2017 term (no conflict). LA-vs-regional-chapter HOLD unchanged.

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