Main Event: Many Voices With Yiyun Li

Author of "Wednesday's Child: Stories"

The Main Event: Many Voices series returns with four captivating speakers sharing their stories and their most recent work. This month's speaker is award-winning writer Yiyun Li.

Image provided by: Basso Cannarsa-Agence Opale

Yiyun Li

For the Chinese-born American writer Yiyun Li, fiction can be a way to retrieve memory, to escape circumstance, or to reclaim one’s consciousness from the influence of others. Her books, which include five acclaimed novels, two short story collections, and two books of nonfiction, are richly observed, and deeply felt.

Her most recent novel, "The Book of Goose," won the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. It tells of two girls raised in the French countryside following WWII. In starred review, BookPage wrote, "Not since Elena Ferrante’s 'My Brilliant Friend' has a novel so deftly probed the magical and sometimes destructive friendships that can occur between two girls ... an elegant and disturbing novel about exploitation and acquiescence, notoriety and obscurity, and whether you choose your life or are chosen by it." The New York Times Book Review noted, "Li [is] one of our finest living authors: Her elegant metaphysics never elide the blood and maggots." "The Book of Goose" was named a Best Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Financial Times, San Francisco Chronicle, TIME, Slate, NPR, Kirkus, Buzzfeed, and others.

Listen as Yiyun Li shares her story — and her stories included in her most recent release, "Wednesday's Child."

If you wish to purchase a Main Event: Many Voices speaker's recently released title during their event, you will find The Friends of Main Library located in the Atrium before and after each event. Author book signing will follow each event located in the hallway beside the auditorium.

Titles available for purchase courtesy of the Friends of Main Library:

September 25: "The First Ladies" by Victoria Christopher Murray and Marie Benedict

October 23: "The Beginning Was the End: Devo in Ohio," new edition by David Giffels and Jade Dellinger

November 6: "Wednesday's Child" by Yiyun Li

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served. Auditorium doors will open at 6 pm for early seating. If you have any questions, please contact the Culture & AV Division by phone at 330.643.9015 or email cadiv@akronlibrary.org.

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