On October 11, Mason Korea successfully held a cross-continental literary event as part of Mason’s annual Fall for the Book Festival at the Fairfax campus.
Two Korean-American authors, Eugenia Kim and Alice Stephens, were invited to talk about their recently published books. Close to 50 participants attended the event at the Korea campus to hear the authors discuss how they ended up writing such powerful narratives of their families’ immigration story and transracial adoption experience.
The event began with Eugenia Kim reading a portion of her new book, The Kinship of Secrets, a riveting story of two sisters, one raised in the United States, the other in South Korea, and the family that bound them together even as the Korean War kept them apart. “Getting to know that my grandmother lost her toes from walking to the prison during the Japanese occupation led to realizing there’s a compelling need for me to write stories,” she said.
Alice Stephens also shared about her new release, Famous Adopted People, a comic novel about a Korean-born US adoptee who travels to Seoul to find her birth mother and, after taking an impulsive trip with a handsome stranger, finds herself in a North Korean prison.
Participants were immersed in the authors’ honest reflections on their writing journey and actively asked questions regarding their experience with identity issues and how the authors portrayed their own hurts and wounds in the characters they created.
Alice and Eugenia openly shared about the process of separation, cultural loss, and anger towards family and even towards Korea as a nation. “Originally, I had a lot of anger and resentment towards Korea,” said Alice. “I was unable to embrace that Korean part. However, feelings have changed after writing the book. The process allowed me to gain a more critical eye and feelings that I’m more connected to the community.”
An hour flew by as the audience sat captivated by the stories that touch on identity, discovery, and the process of becoming a whole person after such intense struggles. One of the participants said, “I really enjoyed listening to these authors in person about how these stories were written and what they actually went through. I went because I was curious about the event, but I think I want to read the book soon.”
October 11, 2019
