Historical Fiction: China and California
Saturday, May 7 | 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM- In-Person Only
San Francisco Chronicle Stage in the Park
- 2022
- Literary
- Outdoor (Free)
Chinese immigrants were instrumental in shaping the development, rise, and culture of California, despite facing formidable prejudice and exploitation. The connection between the two places has been fodder for amazing works of art, including the latest novels by this impressive trio of California-based authors. Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky (“engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking,” said Ann Patchett) illuminates the horrors of the Chinese Exclusion act of the 1880s. Carol Edgarian’s Vera, a riveting historical novel about a madam’s illicit teenage daughter navigating the wreckage of the 1906 earthquake, includes an unforgettable detour into the cultural enclave of San Francisco’s Chinatown—and the plans of opportunistic businessmen to take it over. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Vanessa Hua’s Forbidden City focuses on another indelible teenage girl, this one coming of age as Mao Zedong’s canny protégée and lover. Chole Benjamin called it “an act of resistance and reclamation.” Ambition, trauma, survival and hope: all collide in this trio of unforgettable historical novels.
The bookstore partner for this session is Books Inc.! Buy the books online on their website, at Bookshop.org, or purchase them in person at the Festival. More information here.
Book signing information: Books Inc. Tent at the Bookstore Blv (corner of Allston & Milvia in the Outdoor Fair) at in the park immediately after event