I Love a Broad Margin to My Life - Maxine Hong Kingston

Thursday, April 21, 2011 - 6:00pm
Admission: Members Free / Public $12
Location: 4th Floor Cafe & Meeting Room

Told in free verse reminiscent of one of Kingston's idols, Walt Whitman, this uncommon memoir of the artist at 65 is informed by the wide margins on the pages of the Chinese editions of her works (margins her father used to write in). This homage to aging has the cohesion and intricate logic of a musical composition. The artist is a mental traveler, presenting her life as a dreamlike journey that culminates in a listing of "my dead," some 50 names, which both pulls Kingston toward oblivion and inspires seven reasons to live.

I Love a Broad Margin to My Life is published by Knopf.

Maxine Hong Kingston is currently Senior Lecturer Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley. The Woman Warrior, her first book, was published in 1976 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her second book, China Men, earned the National Book Award. Her most recent books include a collection of essays, Hawai‘i One Summer, and latest novel, The Fifth Book of Peace.