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Description
On Thursday November 9 from 1-3pm, in UC 0069 on the UW-Whitewater campus author Kao Kalia Yang will be facilitating a Q&A session on her newest book, the collective memoir, "Somewhere in the Unknown World."  The Q&A will also be available online via webex. A webex link will be provided after registration.   

Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong American writer. Her first book, The Latehomecomer: a Hmong Family Memoir, was a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read title. Her second memoir, The Song Poet: a Memoir of my Father, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA literary awards, and the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize. It was listed as number 16 in Esquire Magazine’s “50 Best Biographies of All Time”.  Her most recent memoir, Somewhere in the Unknown World, was one of Kirkus Best Books of the Year.

Somewhere in the Unknown World is a collection of powerful stories of refugees.  All over this country, there are refugees. But beyond the headlines, few know who they are, how they live, or what they have lost. Here are the stories of people who found the strength and courage to rebuild after leaving all they hold dear. Awo and her mother, who escaped from Somalia, reunite with her father on the phone every Saturday, across the span of continents and decades. Tommy, born to refugees from Cambodia, cannot escape the war that his parents carry inside. Mr. Truong brings pho from Vietnam to Frogtown in St. Paul, reviving a crumbling block as well as his own family.  In Yang’s exquisite, necessary telling, these fourteen stories of refugee journeys restore history and humanity to America's long tradition of refugee welcoming.

This author visit is sponsored by a Tommy Thompson Center Speaker Grant awarded to Dr. Juk Bhattacharyya, Professor of Geology at UW-Whitewater and is offered in conjunction with a six-week book club focused on the memoir Somewhere in the Unknown World.  The book club is open to the public and will take place every Wed from 12-1pm starting Oct 4th to Nov 8th.  To find out more about the book club opportunity follow the links below:

Book club information for UWW Students and Staff: http://my.uww.edu/SignUp/Registration/Details/17535
Book club information for Community Members:     http://my.uww.edu/SignUp/Public/Register/17535