Join us for a book discussion about this year's Reading Together selection: "Yellowface," by R. F. Kuang ahead of her author visit.
Registration encouraged but not required.
Reading Together is joint effort between local libraries and organizations to build stronger community connections through the experience of reading a shared title and facilitating events and experiences that explore the themes of the book on a local level.
Join us for a discussion about this year's title selection, Yellowface by R. F. Kuang as we prepare for her author visit to Kalamazoo on March 23rd. Refreshments will be served.
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song–complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller is? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.
But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
Rebecca F. Kuang is the award-winning, #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.
All participants are welcome. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Sara at sweyenberg@portagelibrary.info or (269) 585-8710 in advance of your visit.
Long & Gourdneck Lake Rooms, located on the lower level of the library.
AGE GROUP: | Adult |
EVENT TYPE: | Discussion |
TAGS: | 4:Adult Dept | 3:Standard | 2:In person | 1:Adult (18+) |
Located near the intersection of S. Westnedge and Shaver Rd, Portage District Library offers ample parking, EV charging, and access to the Portage Bikeway.
