Creator
Chanda Ouk Wolf
Cambodian American children's book author whose picture book connects Cambodian American families to the donut-shop trade.
Chanda Ouk Wolf is a Boston-based Cambodian American children's author and an advocate for the Cambodian diaspora in America.[1][2] Her picture book A Dozen Delicious Donuts: A Sweet Cambodian-American Story was released on October 15, 2024, and she narrated its audiobook edition.[1][3][4]
Career
Wolf grew up in Long Beach, California, and later in Lowell, Massachusetts. Growing up, she never found stories that showed her who she was as a Cambodian American.[5] She entered the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program at Brandeis University, graduated in 2005 and went on to earn a law degree.[6]
She works in higher education, in leadership development for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.[3] She serves as Special Assistant to the President and General Counsel for the UMass System Office.[7] She also writes and speaks about the Cambodian diaspora in America.[3]
A Dozen Delicious Donuts
The book tells the story of growing up between American and Cambodian cultures.[3] A grandmother who escaped "the killing fields" shares a treasured family recipe, and her granddaughter brings it to a baking contest at her American school.[7][2] The story centers on Khmer culture, food and the Cambodian-American immigrant experience, and it draws the connection between donut shops and the Cambodian community in Southern California.[7][4] The book includes a Cambodian donut recipe with the steps for making it.[7][4] Juliet Yenglin illustrated the book.[7]
The book won a gold medal in the 2025 Literary Titan Book Award.[2]
Readings and school visits
On March 21, 2025, Wolf read from the book and led the children's literature workshop at Khmer Literary Arts Day in Lowell.[8] At the close of AAPI Heritage Month in 2026, she visited six Lynn public schools in four days and read to more than 500 children. She asks children to use "mirrors and windows" to understand their own culture and the cultures of others.[2]
Works
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chanda Ouk Wolf, official site
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Itemlive, Lynn school celebrates AAPI Heritage Month (June 3, 2026)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Audible, Chanda Ouk Wolf author page
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, book review of A Dozen Delicious Donuts
- ↑ Player FM, Vanny Whitchelo podcasts (2025)
- ↑ Brandeis University Alumni, "We Are the MKTYP!" (April 6, 2021)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 UMass Office of the President, Celebrate our differences through inclusive children's literature
- ↑ RichardHowe.com, Khmer Literary Arts Day (March 27, 2025)