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Author Event: Kao Kalia Yang
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Zenith Bookstore welcomes Minnesota’s own Kao Kalia Yang to the store on August 15 at 7 p.m. with her new books Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life and The Rock in My Throat. The acclaimed author discusses and reads from her new releases, followed by an audience Q&A and book-signing.
Where Rivers Part tells the story of Kao Kalia Yang’s mother Tswb. Born in 1961 in war-torn Laos, Tswb’s childhood was marked by the violence of America’s Secret War and the CIA recruitment of the Hmong and other ethnic minorities into the lost cause. By the time Tswb was a teenager, the U.S. had completely vacated Laos, and the country erupted into genocidal attacks on the Hmong people, who were labeled as traitors. Fearing for their lives, Tswb and her family left everything they knew behind and fled their village for the jungle.
Perpetually on the run and on the brink of starvation, Tswb eventually crossed paths with the man who would become her future husband. Leaving her own mother behind, she joined his family at a refugee camp, a choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Eventually becoming a mother herself, Tswb raised her daughters in a state of constant fear and hunger until they were able to emigrate to the U.S., where the determined couple enrolled in high school even though they were both nearly thirty and worked grueling jobs to provide for their children.
Kao Kalia Yang reveals her mother’s astonishing saga with tenderness and clarity, giving voice to the countless resilient refugees who are often overlooked as one of the essential foundations of this country.
A children’s picture book, The Rock in My Throat continues the Yang family story with the author’s own experience as an immigrant in the United States.
At first, no one noticed when I stopped talking at school.
In this moving true story, Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a young Hmong refugee navigating life at home and at school. Having seen the poor treatment her parents received when making their best efforts at speaking English, she no longer speaks at school. Kalia feels “as though a rock has become lodged in her throat, and it grows heavier each day.” Although the narrative is somber, it is also infused with moments of beauty, love, and hope.
About the Author:
Kao Kalia Yang’s work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA literary awards, the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize, as Notable Books by the American Library Association, Kirkus Best Books of the Year, and the Heartland Bookseller’s Award. Her books have garnered four Minnesota Book Awards. She is the author of The Latehomecomer, The Song Poet, Yang Warriors, The Most Beautiful Thing, Caged, and A Map Into the World.
Books are available for order at zenithbookstore.com.
