Family secrets? Political intrigue? Historical drama? This event has it all.
Join Kim Liao, author of Where Every Ghost Has a Name: A Memoir of Taiwanese Independence (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, September 2024), and Jimin Han, author of The Apology (Little Brown and Co., August 2023), in conversation about suppressed family secrets and the challenges and excitement of reconstructing historical dramas. Whether you are working on your own next masterpiece or want to meet two eminent literary figures (or both), this is an event you won’t want to miss.
Kim and Jimin will read briefly from their books, answer questions from the audience, and sign your books.
Please RSVP here so we can save a seat for you.
About Kim
Kim Liao’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, The Rumpus, McSweeney’s, The Millions, Salon, Fourth River, Hippocampus, and others. A former Taiwan Fulbright Creative Research Scholar, her work has received support from the Vermont Studio Center, the Jentel Foundation, the Hambidge Center, the Anderson Center, and the Ragdale Foundation. She lives with her family near New York City and teaches writing to students of all ages.
About Jimin
Jimin is the author of The Apology (now available in papeback!), a 2023 Barnes and Noble Discover Pick; a best audiobook by Booklist; and a best book of the summer by the LA Times, Vanity Fair, Shondaland, Apple Books and more. She is also the author of A Small Revolution and has written for American Public Media's Weekend America and Poets & Writers, among other media outlets. She teaches at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, Pace University, and community writing centers. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she grew up in Providence, Rhode Island; Dayton, Ohio; and Jamestown, New York. Her work has been supported by the New York State Council on the Arts.
The Apology, a "sweeping intergenerational saga," tells the story of a pampered and defiant South Korean matriarch thrust into the afterlife from which she seeks a second chance to make amends (Kirstin Chen)--and fights off a tragic curse that could devastate generations to come.
In 2010, Kim Liao traveled to Taiwan to learn the truth about her family. After WWII, her grandfather Thomas Liao (Liao Wen-Yi) became the leader of the Taiwanese independence movement, his land was seized, his relatives were arrested, and his nephew was sentenced to death. With their lives at stake, Thomas’s wife Anna brought their four children to America to start a new life—never speaking a word about Thomas again.
When Kim arrived in Taiwan six decades later, she was shocked to learn that the KMT government had erased much of the story of Taiwanese independence from the official historical record. For years, Taiwanese citizens were kept in the dark about the violence that transpired during four decades of martial law, with the silenced voices of the White Terror Period mirroring the silencing of the Liao family’s story.
Despite this suppression, she learned that former independence leaders had preserved this history in their memories and personal archives. With their help, Kim discovered two stories: her family's story of love and loss, and Taiwan’s fight for freedom.
“From its astonishing opening lines, Where Every Ghost Has a Name grabbed me by the collar and never let me go. Both a poignant memoir and a riveting mystery, this is a deeply moving, meticulously researched debut.” — Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit
“This work is not just an important contribution to Taiwanese history, but also a profound account of the wide-reaching personal sacrifices that resistance against authoritarianism entails.” — Shawna Yang Ryan, author of Green Island
“In Where Every Ghost Has a Name: A Memoir of Taiwanese Independence, author Kim Liao takes us on her journey across the Pacific Ocean, from Long Island to Taiwan, in search of her exiled grandfather’s past. It narrates hardship and sacrifice but also the triumphs and strength of human agency to maintain a sense of purpose and identity even in the most impossible situation.” — Anru Lee, author of Haunted Modernities: Gender, Memory, and Placemaking in Postindustrial Taiwan
About The Apology
This "sweeping intergenerational saga" tells the story of a pampered and defiant South Korean matriarch thrust into the afterlife from which she seeks a second chance to make amends (Kirstin Chen)--and fights off a tragic curse that could devastate generations to come.
In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter. Ten days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come.
Hak Jeonga has always shouldered the burden of upholding the family name. When she sent her daughter-in-law to America to cover up an illegitimate birth, she was simply doing what was needed to preserve the reputations of her loved ones. How could she have known that decades later, this decision would return to haunt her--threatening to tear apart her bond with her beloved son, her relationship with her infuriatingly insolent sisters, and the future of the family she has worked so hard to protect?
"The Apology… is a lovely, caustic and trauma-soaked example of the new literary embrace of actual ghosts."―The Chicago Tribune
“Jeonga’s narration is sharp and witty and a touch sly as she describes her present, disembodied state—the in-between, purgatory-like space her consciousness now occupies—as well as the events that led to her death…This is an enthralling multigenerational tale of familial secrets, trauma and healing.”―The New York Times
“Han’s narrator is sly, funny, and flawed…[The Apology is] a satisfying tale with vivid relationships that will keep readers curious about this complex family shaped by war, loyalty, class-consciousness, and love.”―Booklist