Literary picks for week of March 17
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It’s Read Brave St. Paul week, with events celebrating the young adult novel “Man O’ War” by Cory McCarthy, this year’s community book club title. Presented by the St. Paul Public Library, Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and the city of St. Paul, Read Brave is hosted by Mayor Melvin Carter. The program invites residents to read and talk across generations about an issue critical to St. Paul and its future.
The highlight of the week is a panel discussion with Carter and McCarthy, who will use “Man O” War” as a starting point for looking at this year’s Read Brave topic of identity and belonging.
“I am excited to be ‘Celebrating Identities’ as we emphasize our city’s commitment to inclusivity and provide a platform for meaningful dialogue around our values of diversity and understanding,” Carter writes on the St. Paul Public Library website.
Winner of an American Library Association Stonewall Book Honor award, “Man o” War” follows the journey of River, an Irish Lebanese American trans teen navigating the challenges and joys of self-discovery and love in the confines of a small Midwestern town. A high school student and competitive swimmer who works at the local aquarium, River seems to find more in common with the captive sharks and isolated man o’ wars than with peers at school. Told over a period of years, the story explores layers and complexities of coming out and transitioning, grappling with dysphoria, internalized transphobia and racism, bias and rejection and, ultimately, acceptance, self-love, true love and joy.
The panel discussion begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Arlington Hills Library, 1200 Payne Ave., St. Paul. Like all Read Brave events, it is free and open to the public.
Other Read Brave events this week: story time with Carter, 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Rondo Community Library, 461 N. Dale St.; volunteer event with volunteers packing book kits for community members, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, George Latimer Central Library, 90 W. Fourth St.; family story time with Carter reading the picture book “Alma and How She Got Her Name” by Juana Martinez-Neal, 11 a.m. Saturday, George Latimer Central Library.
Kao Kalia Yang must be one of the busiest people in the literary community. Earlier this month this popular author launched her new children’s book “The Rock in My Throat,” about a Hmong girl who stopped talking in school because she saw her parents shamed when they tried to speak English and how she regained her voice. Now Yang, who lives in St. Paul, introduces her adult memoir of survival, “Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life.”
Yang, born in a refugee camp in Thailand after her family fled war in Laos, came to America when she was 6. In “Where Rivers Part” she recalls what her mother and the Hmong people lived through and what they eventually overcame through their experiences with leaving everything they knew to start new lives. It is about the strength of the bond between mother and daughter and the lengths we go to ensure the safety and happiness of those we love.
Other adult books by Yang include “The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir” and “The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father,” both winners of Minnesota Book Awards. “The Song Poet” also inspired a Minnesota Opera production. Among her children’s books are “From the Tops of the Trees,” winner of an American Library Association award and “Yang Warriors,” based on her memories of playing with her friends in the refugee camp. She co-edited “What God Is Honored Here?” and wrote a collective memoir about refugee lives, “Somewhere in the Unknown World.”
Yang will celebrate publication of “Where Rivers Part” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, at Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Ave., Mpls., presented by Valley Booksellers of Stillwater and Literature Lovers’ Night Out. $25 advance general admission. For ticket information go to the Literature Lovers’ Night Out web page.
