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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261209T190000
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SUMMARY:An Evening with Min Jin Lee | Fundraiser for New Life Community Development
DESCRIPTION:Pre-purchase your copy of the featured title to guarantee your signed copy! This helps ensure that everyone who wants a book goes home with one\, in case we sell out at the event. \nThis event is benefiting New Life Community Development Corporation\, a 501c3 nonprofit serving low income individuals in Elmhurst and Corona. \nDoors open at 6:30! \nJoin Min Jin Lee in conversation with Lucy Yu in the bestselling author’s very own hometown of Elmhurst\, NY\, to celebrate the arrival of her latest novel American Hagwon\, and to fundraise for an Elmhurst-based non-profit. \nTicket price will include a signed copy and a donation to New Life Community Development Corporation\, a 501c3 organization serving low income individuals in Elmhurst and Corona with a food pantry\, health center\, financial literacy\, and social emotional wellness programming. \n10% of each purchased copy of American Hagwon will also be donated towards New Life Community Development Corporation. \nABOUT THE BOOK \nThe National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Pachinko returns with a breathtaking contemporary epic: a masterpiece by turns sweeping and intimate\, that reckons with ambition and moderation\, lust and loyalty\, personal dreams and familial duty. \nMin Jin Lee brings grand ambition\, fierce heart\, and the tenderest hope to a novel I didn’t want to end.” —Roxane Gay\, bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger \nIn schools and churches\, hotel rooms and nail salons\, law firms and fried-fish shops; in cramped\, dingy apartments and luxury\, gated communities\, the men\, women\, and children in American Hagwon struggle to find satisfaction and meaning in a world that seems to grow less forgiving with each passing year. Once comfortably middle class in Korea\, John and Helen Koh and their three children—Bo\, DH\, and Mido—find their lives upended\, first by a shocking betrayal by John’s oldest friend\, then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. \nDesperately striving to regain their footing\, they leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in Southern California—where new vistas of opportunity open up for the children as their parents\, strangers in a strange land\, must adjust to a new life in which their experience and education mean little\, and they set their sights on whatever it takes to provide for their children’s futures. The Kohs\, their friends\, relatives\, and even their foes move in and out of each other’s lives as they navigate new courses across the years\, always nursing the almost all-consuming faith that education will lead the next generation to success and security. \nIn American Hagwon\, Min Jin Lee has crafted an unforgettable\, panoramic novel where the smallest of gestures can have enormous repercussions\, where the bonds of family and of memory twist and fray but rarely break\, and where willful self-sacrifice—for the benefit of loved ones and even strangers—is a kind of prayer. \nABOUT THE AUTHOR \nMin Jin Lee was born in Seoul\, South Korea and immigrated to Queens\, New York with her family when she was seven years old. She is a writer whose award-winning fiction explores the intersection of race\, ethnicity\, immigration\, class\, religion\, gender\, and identity of a diasporic people. \nLee’s debut novel Free Food for Millionaires (2007) was a Top 10 Books of the Year for The Times of London\, NPR’s Fresh Air\, USA Today\, and a national bestseller. Pachinko\, her second novel\, is an epic story which follows a Korean family who migrates to Japan; it is the first novel written for an adult\, English-speaking audience about the Korean-Japanese people. Pachinko was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction\, runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize\, winner of the Medici Book Club Prize\, a New York Times 10 Best Books of 2017\, and is one of Kirkus Review’s Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far). A New York Times Bestseller\, Pachinko was also a Top 10 Books of the Year for the BBC\, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation\, and the New York Public Library. Pachinko was a selection for “Now Read This\,” the joint book club of PBS NewsHour and The New York Times. It was on over 75 best books of the year lists\, including NPR\, PBS\, and CNN. Pachinko has been translated into over 35 languages and is an international bestseller. President Barack Obama selected Pachinko for his recommended reading list\, calling it\, “a powerful story about resilience and compassion.” In 2024 Pachinko (#15) was named one of the New York Times Book Review’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. \nIN CONVERSATION WITH \nLucy Yu is a writer and multi-disciplinary artist living in Brooklyn\, New York. She is also the owner of Yu & Me Books in Manhattan’s Chinatown\, the first queer Asian American bookstore in New York City. Yu & Me Books specializes in immigrant stories\, writers of color\, and historically marginalized experiences. \nAbout the New Life Community Development Corporation \nFounded in 1994 by members of New Life Fellowship Church\, New Life Community Development Corporation seeks to serve the poor and marginalized in Elmhurst and Corona\, NY. New Life CDC envisions a neighborhood where every neighbor has the financial\, emotional\, and social resources to thrive\, and every neighbor is valued and recognized as worthy\, capable\, and deserving of investment and support. Annually\, New Life CDC serves over 1\,400 children\, youth\, adults\, and senior neighbors through culturally and linguistically accessible programs and services. New Life CDC’s programs provide relief\, cultivate restoration\, deepen relationships and model reinvestment with neighbors across the spectrum of poverty\, including those experiencing food or housing insecurity\, uninsured community members\, undocumented day laborers living on the streets\, survivors of domestic violence\, and working class families. Its core programs include a food and clothing pantry\, health center\, financial empowerment programs\, and social emotional wellness programs for low-income families at local schools and shelters.
URL:https://potluckasianamerica.org/event/an-evening-with-min-jin-lee-fundraiser-for-new-life-community-development/
LOCATION:New Life Community Development Corporation\, 82-10 Queens Boulevard\, Elmhurst\, NY\, 11373\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book,Discussion,Fundraiser
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261212T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261212T203000
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SUMMARY:American Hagwon: A Conversation with Min Jin Lee
DESCRIPTION:Join internationally acclaimed author Min Jin Lee for a special evening celebrating the release of her highly anticipated new novel\, American Hagwon. \nFrom the bestselling author of Pachinko comes an epic\, deeply moving saga that follows a Korean family across Seoul\, Sydney\, and California’s Orange County from 1992 to 2007. Through the lives of the Koh family and those around them\, Lee explores the pursuit of opportunity\, the pressures of academic achievement\, the impact of economic upheaval\, and the enduring bonds between parents and children. \nAt the heart of the novel is the world of the hagwon—Korea’s private education system and a powerful symbol of ambition\, sacrifice\, and social mobility. As fortunes rise and fall against the backdrop of the Asian financial crisis and the Korean diaspora experience\, American Hagwon asks timeless questions about identity\, success\, family\, and what ultimately makes a good life. In this special live conversation\, Min Jin Lee will discuss the inspiration behind her sweeping new novel\, her creative process\, and the themes that have made her one of the most important literary voices of our time. A book signing will follow the program. \nDon’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from the celebrated author of Pachinko as she introduces her most ambitious work yet. \nTickets: $15 + fees (Event Ticket Only); $45 + fees (Event Ticket + Copy of American Hagwon\, Pick-Up at Kew & Willow Books in Kew Gardens); $51 + fees (Event Ticket + Copy of American Hagwon\, U.S. Shipping Included). \nBook pick-up and shipping will begin on September 29\, 2026\, the official publication date of American Hagwon. Limited signed editions by Min Jin Lee available—don’t wait\, order now! \nPlease note that discounts on tickets are only available for Queens College students. With a valid QC student ID\, Queens College students receive 50% off the Event Ticket. The student discount is available for in-person purchases at the KCA Box Office only. Students may also purchase the Event Ticket + Book Pick-Up option; though the 50% discount applies to the Event Ticket portion only. Instead of picking up the book at Kew & Willow Books\, Queens College students will receive their book at Colden Auditorium on the day of the event. \nFor any additional questions\, please contact our Box Office at (718) 793-8080.
URL:https://potluckasianamerica.org/event/american-hagwon-a-conversation-with-min-jin-lee/
LOCATION:Queens College – Colden Auditorium\, 153-49 Reeves Avenue\, Flushing\, NY\, 11367
CATEGORIES:Book,Discussion
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