Kao Kalia Yang channels her mother in the memoir ‘Where Rivers Part’
54m
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Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller
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When Kao Kalia Yang’s mother was a child growing up in Laos, she lived a comfortable life. Her father was a prosperous merchant. She was the only Hmong girl in the village to go to school. She felt valued.
The war changed all that. Hunted by North Vietnamese soldiers, Yang’s maternal family had to flee into the jungle and live a desperate existence for years. Eventually, her mother met a boy also in hiding, and they married. She was 16.
It was an extraordinary chapter in her mother’s remarkable life. Yet when Yang suggested that she record the full story, her mother doubted anyone would care.
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Kao Kalia Yang started out writing her family’s refugee memoir. Now she’s sharing the journeys of others
Thankfully, Yang persisted. Her new book, “Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother” is one attempt to capture the drama of her mother’s life.
From a riverside village in Laos to a bleak refugee camp in Thailand to a new home in St. Paul, Yang tells the story through her mother’s eyes and captures the grief, determination and pride of the immigrant journey.
Yang joined host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to share what it was like to record the unvarnished truth of her mother’s life and why she couldn’t write this book until now.
Guest:
Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong American speaker and writer. She is the award-winning of author of many books, including several about her family, including “The Latehomecomer” and “The Song Poet.” Her latest is “Where Rivers Part.”
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Birds, bats, freshwater mussels and a small catfish. They all slipped away in 2023, among the 21 species declared extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Guest:
Lydia Millet is a novelist and conservationist. Her new book is, “We Loved It All: A Memory of Life.”
Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller onApple Podcasts,Google Podcasts,RSSor anywhere you get your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Thread newsletterfor the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.
Minnesota’s best writers on Big Books and Bold Ideas
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But the heart of the book — her push-pull relationship with her mother and her process of uncovering a true self — is as old as time.
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Guest:
Jamie Figueroa is the author of the acclaimed novel, “Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer.” Her new book is “Mother Island.”
Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller onApple Podcasts,Google Podcasts,RSSor anywhere you get your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Thread newsletterfor the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.
Alexandra Fuller on ‘the braid, the spiral, the knot of grief’
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Guest:
Alexandra Fuller is the author of many books, including “Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight,” and "Quiet Until the Thaw.” Her new memoir is “Fi: A Memoir of My Son.”
Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller onApple Podcasts,Google Podcasts,RSSor anywhere you get your podcasts.
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Guest:
Don Winslow has written 21 novels, including “The Border, “The Force, and “Savages.” His new book, “City in Ruins” completes his Danny Ryan trilogy and his writing career.
Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller onApple Podcasts,Google Podcasts,RSSor anywhere you get your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Thread newsletterfor the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.