“We Read in Order to Come to Life”: Grief, Joy, and the Magic of Literary Form

How do writers assemble words in a way that lifts them beyond their literal meaning to speak what can’t really be said? These three writers are masters. In her novel Checkout 19, Claire-Louise Bennett (whose words are quoted in this program’s title) takes us on a breathless, kaleidoscopic ride around an unnamed female narrator’s life. The torrent of words protects “[t]he prized darkness at the center of the human mind, the place where whatever is really real about us resides,” The New Yorker notes. Best-selling poet and essayist Victoria Chang—the current poetry editor for the New York Times Magazine, and author of Obit—takes the opposite approach in her new, highly original poetry collection, The Trees Witness Everything: she turns to the compact form of Japanese waka to awaken the wordless experiences of longing and letting go. In her acclaimed debut novel Ghost Forest, Canadian author Pik-Shuen Fung explores the narrator’s grief for her “astronaut” father, one of many such fathers who remained in Hong Kong while the rest of the family emigrates. Ann Patchett says the book is “light as a feather” and “almost like reading poetry, but it’s a novel.” Enjoy this rare opportunity to hear three of our best writers discussing literature at its finest.

The bookstore partner for this session is Sausalito Books By The Bay! Buy the books online at Bookshop.org or purchase them in person at the Festival. More information here.

Book signing information: Sausalito Books by the Bay Tent at the Bookstore Blv (corner of Allston & Milvia in the Outdoor Fair) at 3:15 PM

With the support of the Consulate General of Canada San Francisco/Silicon Valley and Culture Ireland