We’re fortunate to live in an age where Viet Thanh Nguyen wins the Pulitzer Prize in 2016 and where our literary scene can include stories that revise or even challenge the “immigrant narrative” that for years had dominated the conversation.
When I was eight, my mother would praise every piece of art I brought home. It didn’t matter whether I spent hours gluing macaroni on cardboard tubes or seconds slashing paint across construction paper.
In this series, I’m reading Celeste Ng’s blockbuster debut novel Everything I Never Told You and discussing literary techniques I notice in each chapter.
I always tell my students, “A description of a character running is okay. A description of a character running somewhere is better. A description of a character running home from something is even better.”
Whether I was commuting on Pennsylvania’s rock-ribbed highways, escaping the teeth-grinding stress of graduate school, or just trying to feed my creativity, these podcasts have always been there to me grounded and focused.