Writer, reporter and translator Mia Yun will read from her work at 8 p.m. March 29 as a part of The SmartSet Series: Where Great Writers Read, sponsored by The Center for Humanities in Arts & Sciences. The reading will take place in Anheuser-Busch Hall, Room 204.
In addition, Yun will lead a seminar on the craft of writing at 4 p.m. March 30 in McMillan Café, McMillan Hall, Room 115. The event will include a question-and-answer session.
Yun is author of the novels House of the Winds (2000) and the forthcoming Translations of Beauty.
World Literature Today observed that Yun’s “work ranks with such classics as The Diary of Anne Frank and Letters of a Javanese Princess by (Raden Adjeng) Kartini. It belongs on the shelf with the best of contemporary world literature and in any women’s studies collection. Seldom do we see work that is so true, so moving, so well written.”
House of the Winds, set in Korea in the 1960s and ’70s, is a portrait of a Korean family and especially its women, the lives of whom have been deeply affected by the nation’s tumultuous history, especially the 36 years of Japanese rule and the Korean War.
The narrator is a girl, the youngest of three children, who observes the world around her with a keen understanding of, and deep sympathy toward, her family of sad women. It is a world full of historical, mythical and ghostly implications where voiceless women roam.
Speaking of her work, Yun said, “A book’s life, I think, begins long before a single sentence gets to be written. It is a mysterious process.
“It often begins with an idea or an image that flashes through your mind. And unlike the others, this particular image or idea somehow takes root and sprouts a leaf or two. And it grows into a leafy tree.”
Born and raised in Korea, Yun makes her home in New York City.
Both events are free and open to the public. Copies of Yun’s work will be available for purchase, and a book-signing and reception will follow each program.
For more information, call 935-5576.
Comments and respectful dialogue are encouraged, but content will be moderated. Please, no personal attacks, obscenity or profanity, selling of commercial products, or endorsements of political candidates or positions. We reserve the right to remove any inappropriate comments. We also cannot address individual medical concerns or provide medical advice in this forum.