Local News:
An Interview With Anchee Min, author of ‘Pearl of China’
Mon, May 03, 2010
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Pearl of China (Bloomsbury USA)
When Anchee Min escaped from China to the United States in 1984, she knew not a word of English. Besides watching Sesame Street and listening to public radio, Min began to write as a way to learn the language. And, following the old adage told to all beginning writers, Min wrote what she knew – her life in China during the Cultural Revolution and her remarkable story of going from a modest urban family to the horrors of a rural labor camp, only to be plucked out to portray Madame Mao in a propaganda film, but then shunned when Chairman Mao died and Madame Mao was arrested.
Min’s memoir, published under the title Red Azalea in 1994, was a stark and profoundly moving work. It made her a best-selling author, a reputation further enhanced with a series of well-received historical novels that followed, including Katherine, Empress Orchid, The Last Empress and Becoming Madame Mao, set in both Imperial and Communist China.
Min returns now with a new novel based on the life of Pearl S. Buck. Like Min, Buck was born in China, spoke both English and Chinese and, due to the political situation in China, was forced to leave that country for America. The Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author wrote over 70 books, including novels such as The Good Earth, memoirs, translations of Chinese classics, short stories, poetry, children’s books and more.
Min’s book follows Buck’s life through the eyes of a friend and contemporary, a Chinese girl named Willow, constructed by Min from a collection of Chinese friends Buck had throughout her life.
Listen here as Anchee Min talks with KMUW’s Chris Heim about the new book, the challenges of learning and writing in a different language, the role of women in her books and in China and what we should know about that country, past and present.
Watch “An Evening with Anchee Min” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl75dP3MnOE
Anchee Min reads at Watermark Books
4701 East Douglas in Wichita
Tuesday May 4th at 7 p.m.
