Artist Talk: Viet Thanh Nguyen and Minnie Phan
Join this renowned author-illustrator team for a special presentation of their new book, including a hands-on art activity for children, author Q&A, and book signing.
Created by acclaimed illustrator Minnie Phan and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and professor Viet Thanh Nguyen, “Simone” tells the moving story of a Vietnamese American girl whose life is transformed by a wildfire. The book explores art’s extraordinary capacity to open dialogues between generations about challenging topics, taking inspiration from the convergence in 2020 of the pandemic’s onset with wildfires that turned California skies red with toxic fumes. After the talk, Phan leads a hands-on drawing and painting activity for children in the Koret Foundation Education Center and Nguyen answers questions about his life and work. Don’t miss the chance to get your copy of “Simone” signed (available for purchase in the Cha May Ching Boutique) and introduce your family to this world-renowned author and illustrator team.
$20 per person in addition to museum admission. Children 12 and under are free.
Reserve tickets through the Society for Asian Arts website.
About the Speakers
Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of “The Sympathizer,” winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016. Listed by the New York Times as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century, “The Sympathizer” was also recently adapted into a seven-part miniseries, now streaming on Max. Nguyen’s other works include “Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War” and “Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America.” He is the Aerol Arnold Chair of English and a Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California.
Minnie Phan is an illustrator and writer based in Oakland. Her work has been featured at venues including Google, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the San Francisco Public Library.
This event is presented by the Society for Asian Art.