Quote by Jenny Zhang: “Joy is not made to be a crumb.”

We often settle for small, rationed amounts of happiness — as if we don't deserve more or it might run out. This quote pushes back on that. Joy isn't a scarce resource to be hoarded in tiny pieces; it's something to be sought and inhabited fully, without apology.

Zhang published Sour Heart in 2017, a collection that gave vivid voice to Chinese immigrant families in New York navigating poverty, language, and displacement. It appeared at a moment of intense anti-immigrant rhetoric in US politics and was celebrated as a corrective to dehumanising narratives.

Chinese-American poet and fiction writer whose debut story collection Sour Heart won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2018. Her work explores the immigrant experience, childhood, and the complexity of family across class and culture.