The First American Volunteer Group of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Fly-ing Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pi-lots from the United States Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps, and was com-manded by Claire Lee Chen-nault.
Dr. Iris Yang is the author of three historical novels about the Flying Tigers -- Wings of a Flying Tiger, Will of a Tiger, Legacy of the Tigers. Al-though she has a Ph.D. in mo-lecular biology, she is pas-sionate about fiction writing. Her Flying Tiger trilogy was published by Open Books. Iris was interviewed on NPR’s The State of Things, and they de-scribed her interview as such: “She infuses real-life events with her personal family history stories from a very dark period in China’s history.” She was a guest speaker at the Flying Ti-gers WWII Veterans 78th Anni-versary Reunion.
Her books have touched many people, including a Flying Tiger’s son who gave her his father’s invaluable flight jacket. She will talk about the inspira-tions behind her books, her family experiences related to the books, and her writing journey.
Dr. Yang was born and raised in China. As famous writers and translators, her grand-mother and her aunt were wrongfully accused as counter-revolutionary Rightists, so Iris had to choose a safer path—studying science. After gradu-ating from Wuhan University and passing a series of exams, she was accepted by the pres-tigious CUSBEA (China-United States Biochemistry Examina-tion and Application program). At age 23, with poor English, little knowledge of the country, and 500 borrowed dollars, she came to the United States as a graduate student at the Uni-versity of Rochester and has lived here ever since.
For more information, visit Dr Yang’s web site: https://www.IrisYang-author.com