“I first met Kim at AWP where she discussed her brilliant book, Accomplice to Memory, as part of a panel on ‘necessary hybrids.’ I was drawn to her work and the process of how we understand our desire to know the past as we navigate the uncertainties of our histories and discover the forms we need to hold our stories and the gaps within them. I’ve had the chance to work with Kim 1:1 on what I called ‘the messy middle’ of my book. Kim is such an insightful, intuitive, and gentle reader. She handled my rough drafts with such care and respect. The questions she raised about the work helped me clarify my own thinking and see patterns and themes emerging. Each month I worked with her, I had some major revelation or breakthrough in my work. I cherished our conversations and the language, possibilities, and significance Kim has given to the practice of ‘memory work’ and what it means to be a ‘next gen writer.’”

—Sangamithra Iyer, author of Governing Bodies (forthcoming from Milkweed Editions)

“Challenging, imaginative, and affirmative, Q.M. Zhang's one-on-one mentoring transformed memoir writing from a solitary struggle to an experience of play, possibility, and lively conversation. After our initial zoom meeting, Kim proposed a series of focused, individualized prompts—"provocations"—introducing new tools and approaches. I took a week to write in response to each; she took a week to read it and respond via zoom and email; then she sent the next challenge. Kim's provocations enabled me to ask questions about enigmatic gaps in my family history, to combine research and imagination to write into those gaps, to produce fiction with an autobiographical scaffolding, and to draw upon multiple genres: letters, journals, dramatic scenes and monologues, essays, and more. After our eighth exchange, I emerged with 100 pages of writing and a fresh understanding of my material.  A wonderful learning experience!”

—Patricia P. Chu, George Washington University and author of Where I Have Never Been: Migration, Melancholia and Memory in Asian American Narratives of Return

In Fall 2021, I participated in a MemoryWorks workshop, where I learned ways to address the episodic and often unconnected threads of memory. I am interested in creative nonfiction, and Kim showed me ways to construct a narrative throughline in my writing and greatly strengthened my stories. Later, we did one-on-one work together. In our bi-monthly sessions, Kim challenged me to think about the aim of my writing and its larger meaning to the reader. As someone who is seeking to pursue full-time writing, I'll keep with me her many strong insights and advice on creating narrative and an authentic voice within my writings, including the story we worked on together. As a result of our sessions, I succeeded in placing that story in a fiction journal. Kim helped me to understand how to take a story idea from the hypothetical to its reality on paper.

—David Levine, published writer

“I was fascinated by Kim’s approach to capturing those aspects of our past that are oftentimes elusive to us—those that remain unarticulated through words, either written or spoken, for reasons of conquest, colonialism, slavery, war, or revolution. I was fortunate to read her book, Accomplice to Memory, where I saw her hybrid methodology in action. So when I found myself, as an historical archaeologist, confronted with European colonial written accounts, Ga oral histories, and artifacts from the past that we, as direct descendants, had excavated—a bead here and there, a shard of pottery, the odd cowrie shell, the bowl of a clay smoking pipe containing traces of tobacco—I sought out Kim’s help in order to reconstruct the life of my ancestors: a Danish governor and slave trader and his Ghanaian wife, an herbalist and daughter of a chief, who lived on the Guinea Coast at the height of the transatlantic slave trade in the eighteenth century.

I sent Kim an email about my project, together with images of my materials. I explained that I wanted to write a book that all kinds of people, not just scholars (though them too!), would want to read. I was delighted that Kim took the time to not only meticulously read what I had written, but also do research around the topic. She went over and beyond what I had expected. She made a lot of suggestions, as well as gave me comments and feedback—and more readings to do! This all served to help me rethink the possibilities for my project. The project is still at its beginning stages but I am thrilled to move forward and see how it evolves—so much so that I have just told Kim about my plans for the next project we will be working on!”

—Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, Director, Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project (Ghana)

“To those who have experienced it, Kim's teachings and workshops are engaging, experiential, inspirational, and enlightening. Her teaching is so distinctive to me that I can only think of a Chinese metaphor to best describe my learning from Kim: 點石成金、頑石點頭. Kim brings a magical Midas touch to her students, so that even the unfeeling stones nod in agreement. I am honored to be one of those stones transformed by her teaching and writing, which challenges us to open our hearts and minds in search of critical and creative forms of inquiry in our life-long learning.”

—Ho Wai Yip, Associate Professor, The Education University of Hong Kong

“I have known Kimberly since 2019 as a grant writer and project scholar through our ongoing community oral history project entitled “The Untold History of Bhutanese Americans in Western Mass.” While developing the project proposal on behalf of the Bhutanese Society of Western Mass, Kimberly did it all with great kindnesses. As a result, we were able to get funding from Mass Humanities and our project is now underway. BSWM is honored to have an Asian American scholar such as Kimberly working with us on this project. On behalf of our organization, I express my sincere appreciation for her contribution to the project and best wishes for her new venture called “MemoryWorks.” We look forward to working with her in the future!”

—Hari Khanal, Board Chair, Bhutanese Society of Western Massachusetts

“Kimberly Chang is a brilliant mentor and a graceful writer who I am proud to have had as my advisor at Hampshire College. She helped me conceptualize the work of postmemory and apply the methodology to my own family’s migratory background and erasures in queer South Asian history. My project comprised three sections: precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial. One of my favorite exercises suggested by Kimberly was diving into fiction writing as a tool to creatively excavate and give language to my internal emotional experience. When unpacking sites of personal, collective, and cultural trauma, and attempting to bridge the fissures of memory and history, I often became lost in the work with feelings of sorrow, shame, and internalized oppression as I tried to dissociate or distance myself from what I initially hoped to uncover. Kimberly was an inspiring, compassionate, and trustworthy figure who guided me through these blocks and helped me navigate the process of moving forward with my project and creating a thesis that I was proud of. I am eternally grateful for the insight, knowledge, and skills I acquired while working with her.”

—Shivani Kapadia, Hampshire College 15S

“Kim was my advisor for my senior thesis, Remembering as Resistance, which explored family stories and personal reflections rooted in Hawai’i and California. My project was interdisciplinary, combining video, creative writing, and curriculum development as multiple methods and forms for engaging with memory work. Memory work requires grit, trial and error, and imagination, attuning myself to gaps and questions that allowed many voices, besides my own, to evoke divergent memories and shared storytelling. Kim was a steady guide throughout this process that unearthed challenges I had never before faced, both personally and academically. Kim pushed me to go beyond what I believed were my limitations and also provided support so that I felt encouraged to take risks. My time with Kim as my advisor has had a long-term impact on my personal and professional development, far beyond my initial project—her lasting gift as a teacher and mentor.”

—Sarah Hark Sun Hamburger, Hampshire College 06F and Columbia University graduate student