Each ticket ($35+fees) includes ev ent admission\, a copy of \;American Hagwon\, and a donation to the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation. \; \; \;
\nAbout the author:
\nMin Jin L
ee is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires \;and Pachinko\, a finalist for the National Book Award\, r
unner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize\, and a New York Times &ldquo\;100 Best Books of the Century.&rdquo\; She serves as the New Yo
rk State Author Laureate from 2025 through 2027. She is the 2024 recipient
of The Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence. Lee has received the Man
hae Grand Prize for Literature\, the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award\, and
the Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Creativity from South Korea.
She is the recipient of fellowships in Fiction from the Guggenheim Founda
tion\, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute\, and the New York Foundation for t
he Arts. Lee is an inductee of the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall o
f Fame and the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. She lives in Harlem wi
th her family.
In schools and churches\, hotel rooms a nd nail salons\, law firms and fried-fish shops\; in cramped\, dingy apart ments and luxury\, gated communities\, the men\, women\, and children in&n bsp\;American Hagwon \;struggle to find sati sfaction and meaning in a world that seems to grow less forgiving with eac h passing year. Once comfortably middle class in Korea\, John and Helen Ko h and their three children&mdash\;Bo\, DH\, and Mido&mdash\;find their liv es upended\, first by a shocking betrayal by John&rsquo\;s oldest friend\, then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
\nDesperately striving to regain their footing\, they leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle i n Southern California&mdash\;where new vistas of opportunity open up for t he children as their parents\, strangers in a strange land\, must adjust t o a new life in which their experience and education mean little\, and the y set their sights on whatever it takes to provide for their children&rsqu o\;s futures. The Kohs\, their friends\, relatives\, and even their foes m ove in and out of each other&rsquo\;s lives as they navigate new courses a cross the years\, always nursing the almost all-consuming faith that educa tion will lead the next generation to success and security.
\nAdditional books will be available for purcha se courtesy of Mac&rsquo\;s Backs &ndash\; Books on Coventry.
\nFor questions about accessibility or to request accommodations f or individuals with hearing\, visual or mobility impairments\, please emai l \;events@cuyahog alibrary.org.
\nAll ticket purchases are non-re fundable. If you have purchased a ticket and can no longer attend \, email \;events@ cuyahogalibrary.org by the event date to arrange book pickup at the CCPL branch of your choice.
\nQuestions? Ema il us at events@cuyaho galibrary.org.
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