I shared this story, The Ponytail Holder, in Los Angeles, at the great Pablo Marz's Family Fun Time episode of Tell It! Personal true stories told live onstage. Heads up: this story includes themes of mental illness, which is not always fun in the family. But...
Can't play this cool at all, nor do I wish to. After 18 years of research and writing, it feels fitting to revel in the warm welcome my multicultural novel, Candlelight Bridge, is receiving from readers and reviewers. I'm excited to share starred reviews from such...
My historical novel, Candlelight Bridge, has just been released by FlowerSong Press. I grew up with my Mexican-and-Chinese American Grandma, and Candlelight Bridge was inspired by the stories she told me: tales of secret immigrants, mixed-race children, and trauma...
For those of you who don't mind a little salty language - in the service of telling it like it happened - here's video of a true personal story I told last fall, live at The Moth StorySLAM. Don't let the title fool you. This is a love story. I was thrilled, and a...
I've been moved by the audiences who've taken an interest in the stories of my search for the family history of my Mexican-Chinese Grandma. In 2021, I had a few opportunities to share the story of my journey to China to heal an old family divide. In case you haven't...
A story can mean different things at different times. In 2019, I first told this one, Cara Lopez Lee Gets A Reporting Job (a.k.a. The Boss of Last Resort) for Daniel David Shapiro's podcast, Two Truths and a Lie. It's the story of the most racist, sexist, intolerant...
I suspect we all have a story about some crazy boss who we feared might destroy our lives. I recently shared such a story on Daniel David Shapiro's podcast, Two Truths and a Lie. There is so much unbelievable drama in real life, but also so much surprising truth in...
I told this true personal story at The Moth StorySlam in Los Angeles on June 6, 2017. The theme was "Mystery." I came in third place, for which I won: nothing...except pride in getting better at this art form every day. I love oral storytelling. What an exciting way...
In case you missed it, my short personal story of love and marriage, called Smelly Make This Bed, makes an appearance today at The Manifest-Station, a beautiful online journal "On Being Human." This Valentine's Day, let it remind us that whatever challenges we face in...
In this month's edition of Long Story Short, I take a personal look at a sacred yet strange space, the marriage bed: "...when you spend years sleeping with one person everything that happens in bed is too much information." Please check out Smelly Make This Bed (if...
Cara Lopez Lee is the author of the novel, Candlelight Bridge, and the memoir, They Only Eat Their Husbands. She’s a winner of The Moth StorySLAM and is featured in many personal storytelling shows. Her writing appears in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, Manifest-Station, and Rivet. Cara and her husband love traveling, but their home is coastal Ventura, California, where they enjoy tending their Certified Wildlife Habitat full of birds, bees, and butterflies.
