PULLMAN, Wash. — The “Who Speaks for America” series, presented by the Department of Comparative American Cultures at Washington State University, continues Thursday, March 13, with a reading by award-winning author and poet Maxine Hong Kingston.
Kingston will read from her new book, “The Fifth Book of Peace,” due for release in October. Kingston’s list of awards includes the 1981 American Book Award for general nonfiction for “China Men” which was also runner-up for a Pulitzer Prize. Her 7:30 p.m. presentation is free and open to the public in Room 203 of the Samuel H. Smith Center for Undergraduate Education.
Kingston is best known for her book, “Warrior Women,” which won numerous awards, including the 1976 National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction. Regarding “Warrior Women,” John Streamas, a CAC faculty member, said “if you had to name one book as the most read, most quoted, the most taught…and probably the most important book in Asian American literature, that would be ‘Woman Warrior.’”
Streamas teaches Kingston’s work in his 300-level Asian American literature class. “She deals with myths and old legends and stories from China and transforms them in to grand stories of immigration. Through her writing, female Chinese immigrants have found a strong and powerful voice,” he said.
