Westerly author to release her book, ‘Big Enough’ at the United | Entertainment

One will be geared toward children, said Linke one day earlier this week, as she spoke on the telephone about plans to introduce her new book, “Big Enough,” to local audiences, discuss her “creative process” and share new art work.

Next Tuesday, April 1, Linke will give the adult talk at 5 p.m. at the United. The following Sunday, on April 6 at noon, she said, she’ll host a “story time for kids,” in a festive, fun, more child-friendly atmosphere.

Linke said she plans to read sections of her new book, “Big Enough,” at the April 6 event, and then play games with the children in attendance, make crafts and offer refreshments. There will be prizes too, she added with another soft laugh.

She hopes to make the characters “come alive” for the children at the April 6 event, said Linke, the mother of a 5-year old son, Damien.

Linke, whose art work will also will be on display in the United gallery, said she’ll talk more about her “creative process” at the April 1 evening event, and about gongbi-style painting, which “depicts narrative subjects in colorful, high detail.”

“I’ll be giving a lecture about art, creativity, and adapting philosophy to simple storytelling,” she said, which will be followed by “an audience Q&A and book-signing.”

Last year, Linke’s work was on display in the Westerly Library’s Hoxie Gallery for a month and included more than 30 of her framed prints and scrolls, sketches of the oxherd boy, behind the-scenes items from her publishing process and video time-lapses.

Born and raised in Texas, Linke didn’t learn Chinese painting until she moved to Taiwan in her mid-thirties. Holding degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell University, she worked in marketing technology and information systems for the tourism industry.

Now, she said, finding writing and illustrating much too fun to stop, she creates stories that celebrate East Asian folklore and philosophy in an accessible way.

Her most notable creation is “The Oxherd Boy,” a webcomic whose characters — a boy, an ox, and a rabbit — convey perspectives from Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, which form the foundation of Classical Chinese thought. The print collection, called “The Oxherd Boy: Parables of Love, Compassion, and Community,” debuted in 2024 to the delight of fans worldwide.

“Big Enough,” an original story for children, reveals how little Ah-Fu becomes the oxherd boy and tells the story of what happens when the day comes for him to bring the huge family ox home from the woods and he worries he’s not big enough to do the job.

“This book has been both a challenge and gift,” Linke said in a recent email, “to tell a simple story, yes — but a story that conveys a journey from self-doubt, fear, the desire to please, and the pressure of expectation to intuition, experimentation, and self-trust.”

“This empowering story, inspired by traditional Chinese philosophy, shows kids big and small how to trust themselves and embrace what they can be,” Linke said in a statement from her publisher.

Writing the second book has been a “learning experience,” said Linke, who is already at work on a third book.

And if you’re wondering how she managed to “fit all of these themes in a book that a child can understand,” Linke said she’ll talk about it all at the April 1 event.