Scholarly Series on Hope and Empowerment with C Pam Zhang, Julian Lim
Date(s): Friday, November 20, 2020, 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Arizona time
Location: Zoom
Type(s): Conversation, Talk
Genre and Form(s): Asian American, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mixed Genre, Novels, Race
Cost: Free
About this Event
How Much of These Hills Is Gold is an electric debut novel set against the twilight of the American gold rush. Two siblings are on the run in an unforgiving landscape — trying not just to survive but to find a home.
Ba dies in the night; Ma is already gone. Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence. Fleeing the threats of their western mining town, they set off to bury their father in the only way that will set them free from their past. Along the way, they encounter giant buffalo bones, tiger paw prints and the specters of a ravaged landscape as well as family secrets, sibling rivalry and glimpses of a different kind of future.
Both epic and intimate, blending Chinese symbolism and re-imagined history with fiercely original language and storytelling, "How Much of These Hills Is Gold" is a haunting adventure story, an unforgettable sibling story and the announcement of a stunning new voice in literature. On a broad level, it explores race in an expanding country and the question of where immigrants are allowed to belong. But page by page, it’s about the memories that bind and divide families, and the yearning for home.
The Scholarly Series on Hope and Empowerment with C Pam Zhang and Julian Lim on Friday, November 20, 2020 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Zoom. Presented by the ASU Institute for Humanities Research, the Asian Pacific American Studies program and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. Open to the public and free.
In anticipation of Zhang's visit, ASU Professor Karen Kuo will be also. hosting a literary salon on Asian American history, manifest destiny, and the wild west on Thursday, November 5, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.
