The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) mourns the profound loss of Alice Wong, a visionary disability justice activist, acclaimed author, and 2024 winner of the APALA Literature Award for Adult Non-Fiction. Alice passed away on Friday, November 14, 2025, at UCSF Hospital due to an infection. She was 51 years old.
Alice was born and raised in Indiana to parents who had immigrated from Hong Kong. She was the daughter of Henry and Bobby, the elder sister of Emily and Grace, and the beloved cat mom of Bert and Ernie. Born with muscular dystrophy and told by doctors she would not live past 18, Alice defied expectations at every turn, earning degrees from Indiana University and the University of California, San Francisco. She went on to become a 2024 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, a 2013 Obama appointee to the National Council on Disability, and the founder of the Disability Visibility Project — an oral history initiative in partnership with StoryCorps that has collected and shared thousands of stories from people with disabilities and reshaped the cultural landscape of disability representation in America.
Alice was a fierce advocate for people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and immigrants within the disability community. She championed the principle that people with disabilities must speak for themselves and control their own narratives. Her work as a writer, editor, and community organizer created spaces for joy, resistance, and radical visibility in a society that too often devalues and excludes the lives of people with disabilities.
Alice Wong’s memoir Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life was recognized by APALA in 2024 for its powerful portrayal of the intersections of race, disability, and justice. The committee praised the work for its “poignant and captivating” combination of anecdotes, interviews, text messages, and diary entries that “intimately portrays intersections of race, disability and justice and delivers a powerful message on ableism and disability issues that leaves a lasting impression on all readers.” Through her distinctive voice and unflinching honesty, Alice transformed personal narrative into a call for collective action and systemic change.
Her family shared: “As we mourn the incomprehensible loss of Alice, we share the words she gifted us with from her memoir, Year of the Tiger. ‘The real gift any person can give is a web of connective tissue. If we love fiercely, our ancestors live among and speak to us through these incandescent filaments glowing from the warmth of memories.'”
In one of her final public messages, Alice wrote: “I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more… We need more stories about us and our culture. You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment… Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
APALA is honored to have recognized Alice’s groundbreaking work with our Literature Award and remains committed to upholding the values she championed: authentic representation, community care, and the power of storytelling as a tool for resistance and liberation. We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and the countless individuals whose lives she touched and transformed.
Alice’s family invites her friends, community, and many fans to contribute to her GoFundMe to continue the legacy of her work.
Alice Wong’s light will continue to illuminate the path forward for disability justice and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Her words, her advocacy, and her fierce commitment to collective liberation will endure.