The Sunday Brown Bag Brunch
Sunday, September 18 - 10:30 am – 11:45 pm
Hotel Murano Venice Ballrooms
Sponsored by Harper Collins Tickets required)
Ava Chin / Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming
Writer Ava Chin offers an intimate and enlightening look at the history of the Chinese in America by way of her own family’s experiences in Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming (Penguin Press/PRH). Chin’s childhood estrangement from her father sends her on an exploration of her roots in this country, from immigration to the American West in the middle of the nineteenth century, through backbreaking work on the Transcontinental Railway and brutal racism of frontier towns, then to New York City, where her ancestors established themselves despite living under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which denied citizenship to Chinese immigrants for six decades. Ava Chin is the author of the award-winning Eating Wildly. Mott Street will be published in April, 2023. |
Victor LaValle / Lone Women
The classic image of a Montana homesteader takes on a whole new look in Victor LaValle’s Lone Women (One World/PRH). Adelaide Henry is fleeing from trouble when she packs her trunk and heads for Montana, where the promise of free land for homesteaders might give her the wide-open space she needs. But Adelaide is carrying a heavy load in that enormous steamer trunk, and the secret she keeps locked away inside it may be the only thing that is keeping her alive. Victor LaValle’s previous works of fiction and graphic novels have won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. Lone Women will be published in March, 2023. |
Matt Ruff / The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country
Two-time PNBA Award winner Matt Ruff returns to the show with The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country (Harper), a blend of history, fantasy and horror that makes for one thrilling read. In the summer of 1957, disparate characters in different places face trouble and danger, each challenged by a bargain made, an echo from the past, or the grip of a secret kept. And then there’s Caleb Braithwaite, exiled from Chicago at the end of Lovecraft Country, back now and with a score to settle. In addition to being honored twice by PNBA, Matt Ruff is also the recipient of a Washington State Book Award and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. His novels include 88 Names, Bad Monkeys, Sewer, Gas and Electric and Lovecraft Country. The Destroyer of Worlds will be published in February, 2023 |
Kristina McMorris / The Ways We Hide
In Kristina McMorris’ new novel, The Ways We Hide (Sourcebooks Landmark), a woman who knows all about traps finds herself in an unusual position during a crucial moment of WWII. On-stage, Fenna Vos is the assistant to an escape artist, but behind the curtain she is actually the architect of the act. Then Fenna is called on to join a new team, tasked with creating the escape tools Allied fighters desperately need to elude the enemy. Drawn from actual events, The Ways We Hide tells a story of finding courage in unexpected places, courage to confront one’s past as well as the enemy without. Kristina McMorris is the best-selling author of books of historical fiction, including The Pieces We Keep and Letters from Home. She lives in Portland. |