Eric Liu

Eric Liu is an writer living in Seattle, Washington.

Life and career

He was born in , New York to Chinese parents who immigrated from Taiwan. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School and is a former lecturer at University of Washington's Evans School of Public Affairs. Liu served as a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and later as the president's deputy domestic policy adviser. He was also an executive at RealNetworks.

Liu is co-founder of The True Patriot Network, a political action tank framed upon the ideas he and Nick Hanauer presented in their 2007 book, ''The True Patriot''. The authors define true patriotism as country above self and explain how patriotism is lived every day in service to others, stewardship of resources, shared sacrifice, and other progressive values.

He wrote the 'Teachings' column for magazine from 2002-2005. He is the author of ''Guiding Lights: The People Who Lead Us Toward Our Purpose in Life'' , about transformative mentors, leaders and teachers, and ''The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker'' , about race, identity and acculturation.

''Guiding Lights'' is the Official Book of National Mentoring Month and has led to the creation of a broad civic campaign to highlight mentorship in all walks of life.

In ''The Accidental Asian'', Liu explores identity, in particular, the meaning of his own American and Asian American identity. "I define my identity, then, in the simplest way possible: according to those with whom I identify. And I identify with whoever moves me".

Liu created a magazine called ''The Next Progressive'' and has often been cited as a spokesman for Generation X.

Critical studies

#David Leiwei Li, "On Ascriptive and Acquisitional Americanness: The Accidental Asian and the Illogic of Assimilation." ''Contemporary Literature,'' 2004 Spring; 45 : 106-34.