6:00 - 7:00
Author Susan Lieu and Susan Kiyo Ito discuss Lieu's memoir The Manicurist's Daughter.
The Manicurist’s Daughter is a moving memoir by Susan Lieu about love, loss, and the search for truth. When Susan was eleven, her mother—an ambitious Vietnamese refugee who built a successful life in California—died from a botched cosmetic surgery. After her death, the family never spoke about what happened. For the next twenty years, Susan carried unanswered questions: Why did her mother want to change her body? What was her life like before coming to the U.S.? And how did the surgeon who caused her death continue to operate? Determined to uncover the truth, Susan digs into legal records, speaks with the surgeon’s family, and even turns to spiritual guides. Along the way, she explores themes of grief, beauty standards, and cultural silence. This is a story of healing, resilience, and finding one’s voice.
A book sale and signing follow the discussion.
Vietnamese-American author, playwright, and performer, Susan Lieu, takes audiences on a journey of healing intergenerational trauma, embracing authenticity, and finding boldness in vulnerability. Her debut memoir, The Manicurist’s Daughter (Celadon), is an Apple Book Pick of the Month, a 2024 Best Book of Smithsonian, NPR, and Elle Magazine, and has received accolades from The New York Times and The Washington Post. She was recently named one of Seattle Magazine’s Most Influential People of 2024. Lieu is the creator of her theatrical solo show "140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother," which received critical acclaim from LA Times, NPR, and American Theatre. The co-founder of Socola Chocolatier, Susan is a proud alumnus of Harvard College, Yale School of Management, and Hedgebrook.
Susan Kiyo Ito is the author of the memoir, I Would Meet You Anywhere, published by the Ohio State University Press. It was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award, shortlisted for the Saroyan Prize for International Literature and named a best book of 2023 by the Library Journal. She co-edited the literary anthology A Ghost At Heart’s Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption. Her work has appeared in The Writer, Hyphen, Literary Mama, Catapult, The Bellevue Literary Review, Agni, Guernica and elsewhere. She has been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony, The Mesa Refuge, Hedgebrook and Blue Mountain Center. Her theatrical adaption of Untold, stories of reproductive stigma, was produced at Brava Theater. She teaches at the Mills College campus of Northeastern University.
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Weaving Stories: Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Interest
Programs and workshops, book recommendations and more relating to the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) heritage.
Weaving Stories is the Library's celebration of the many diverse histories and cultures from AANHPI communities.