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In Baby Cobra (2016), her first Netflix special, Ali Wong performed stand-up while seven months pregnant. Three years later she turned the same material, and a lot that would not fit on a stage, into a book: Dear Girls (2019), written as letters to her two daughters, to be read when they are older. It covers dating, her Vietnamese and Chinese American family in the Bay Area, studying abroad in Hanoi, her early years in stand-up, miscarriage and the physical facts of giving birth, and ends with an afterword by her then-husband, Justin Hakuta. This guide covers her one book, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 1 key books · 2019–2019 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Ali Wong has written one book: Dear Girls (2019), subtitled Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life, published by Random House and a bestseller. Start there; if you want the stage version of the same stories first, watch Baby Cobra (2016) or Hard Knock Wife (2018).
Where to Start with Ali Wong
If you want her only book
→ Dear Girls (2019) — essays written as letters to her daughters.
If you want the story behind the pregnant stand-up specials
→ Dear Girls (2019) — the book fills in what the Netflix shows leave out.
Ali Wong’s Book
Dear Girls
A collection of essays addressed to Wong’s two daughters, published by Random House in October 2019. She writes about growing up in a Bay Area immigrant family with a Chinese American father and a Vietnamese mother, her time at UCLA and studying abroad in Hanoi, dating, her early years in stand-up in New York and a miscarriage, and describes pregnancy, birth and new motherhood as bluntly as she does on stage. Her husband at the time, Justin Hakuta, wrote the afterword. Wong and Hakuta read the audiobook. It won the 2019 Goodreads Choice Award for Humor.
How to Read Ali Wong
There is only one book so far, so the real question is how it fits with her stand-up. Dear Girls came out in 2019, after Baby Cobra (2016) and Hard Knock Wife (2018), and several of its chapters return to subjects from those specials at greater length.
You do not need to know the specials to follow the book. Each letter stands on its own, so you can also read it out of order.
A reading path
1. Dear Girls (2019)
2. The Netflix special Baby Cobra (2016), the stage version of many of the same stories
The years · 1982–2024
Quick facts about Ali Wong
- Known for
- Stand-up comedy built on frank stories about sex, pregnancy and motherhood, first in the Netflix special Baby Cobra (2016), and the series Beef (2023)
- 1982
- Born in San Francisco
- 2019
- Dear Girls
- 2024
- Emmy and Golden Globe for Beef
- Born
- 19 April 1982, San Francisco, California
- Education
- University of California, Los Angeles (Asian American studies)
- Stand-up
- Netflix specials Baby Cobra (2016), Hard Knock Wife (2018), Don Wong (2022) and Single Lady (2024)
- Film
- Co-wrote and starred in Always Be My Maybe (2019)
- Television
- Lead role in Beef (2023), which won her an Emmy and a Golden Globe
- Book
- Dear Girls (Random House, 2019)
The red mark is 2019: Dear Girls, her only book so far.
How Ali Wong Writes: Letters with the Punchlines Left In
The book’s device is the letter. Every chapter is addressed to her daughters, which gives Wong a reason to explain things a stand-up set would skip: where her parents came from, what it was like to bomb on stage in her early years in stand-up.
The tone is the tone of her specials. She is explicit about sex, bodies and childbirth, and she keeps jokes in the middle of serious passages, including the passages about miscarriage.
The afterword changes the voice: Justin Hakuta, her husband when the book was written, writes about her from the outside. The couple announced their separation in 2022, three years after publication, and their divorce was finalised in 2024.
Watch
Ali Wong on Dear Girls
Ali Wong talks to The Daily Show in 2019 about Dear Girls, her book of letters to her daughters.
Frequently asked questions about Ali Wong’s book
How many books has Ali Wong written?
One: Dear Girls (2019), a collection of essays written as letters to her two daughters.
What are Ali Wong’s books in order?
So far there is only Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life, published by Random House in October 2019.
Where should I start with Ali Wong?
With Dear Girls (2019), her only book. If you want her stage work first, the Netflix special Baby Cobra (2016) covers several of the same subjects.
What is Ali Wong’s most famous book?
Dear Girls (2019), which became a bestseller after its release in October 2019.
What is Dear Girls about?
Wong writes to her daughters about her own life: growing up with a Chinese American father and a Vietnamese mother, studying in Hanoi, starting out in stand-up, dating, miscarriage, and pregnancy and birth.
Did Ali Wong write Dear Girls herself?
The book is credited to Wong alone, with no co-writer named. The afterword is written by Justin Hakuta, who was her husband at the time.
Is there an audiobook of Dear Girls?
Yes. Wong reads it herself, and Justin Hakuta also reads on the audiobook.
Is Dear Girls worth reading if you have not seen her stand-up?
The book does not assume you know the specials. It refers to them, but each letter explains its own background, so it can be read as a standalone essay collection.
Is Ali Wong still married to Justin Hakuta?
No. The couple announced their separation in 2022, and the divorce was finalised in 2024. Dear Girls was written while they were married, which is why he wrote the afterword.
What else is Ali Wong known for?
Her Netflix stand-up specials, from Baby Cobra (2016) to Single Lady (2024), the film Always Be My Maybe (2019), which she co-wrote, and the series Beef (2023), for which she won an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Footnotes
- Dear Girls by Ali Wong — Penguin Random House
- Ali Wong — Wikipedia
- Dear Girls — Wikipedia
- Dear Girls — Kirkus Reviews
- Comedian Ali Wong on her new book Dear Girls — NPR
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I didn’t have an idea really until I thought about writing letters to my daughters.”
— Ali Wong on Dear Girls, NPR Weekend All Things Considered (20 October 2019)
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