My Year Abroad: Chang-rae Lee with Paul Yoon

The award-winning author discusses crossing boundaries in his new novel. 

Chang-rae Lee has been called one of the "20 Writers for the 21st Century." In his new novel, an American college student's life is turned sideways by a frenzied year-long trip across Asia led by a creative and wild Chinese American entrepreneur. As Lee alternates between the mind-boggling year, and the impacts of its aftermath, he explores the effects of cultural immersion, Western stereotypes, Eastern attitudes, global trade, mental health, parenthood, and more.

Lee will discuss his new novel and its explorations of our human capacities for pleasure, pain, and connection. Joining him in conversation will be writer Paul Yoon.

LIVE from NYPL is made possible by the support of Library patrons and friends, as well as by the continuing generosity of Celeste Bartos, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos, and the Margaret and Herman Sokol Public Education Endowment Fund.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
 Chang-rae Lee is the author of Native Speaker, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction, as well as On Such a Full Sea, A Gesture Life, Aloft, and The Surrendered, winner of the Dayton Peace Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Chang-rae teaches writing at Stanford University. 

 Paul Yoon is the author of two story collections, Once the Shore, which was a New York Times Notable Book, and The Mountain, which was a NPR Best Book of the Year. His novels include Run Me to Earth and Snow Hunters, which won the Young Lions Fiction Award. A recipient of fellowships from The New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars and the National Endowment for the Arts, he lives in Sanford, Florida, with his wife, the fiction writer Laura van den Berg, and their dog, Oscar.

GET THE BOOK
If you have a NYPL library card—or live in New York state and want to apply for one now—you can borrow My Year Abroad for free with our e-reader app SimplyE, available for iOS and Android devices. The title is available in accessible formats for community members who do not use standard print. Find out more at: nypl.org/talkingbooks. You can also request this book, and more, for pickup at one of our Grab & Go locations.

Readers everywhere who wish to purchase copies of My Year Abroad  can do so at The New York Public Library Shop. Proceeds benefit the New York Public Library. 

This program will be streamed on Zoom and simulcast to YouTube. You must register with your email address in order to receive the link to participate. Please check your email shortly before the discussion to receive the link. Captions for this event will be provided. 

Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc.) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Sara Beth Joren at sarabethjoren@nypl.org.

For all other questions and inquiries, please contact publicprograms@nypl.org.

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Chang-rae Lee © Michelle Branca Lee