Habit of a Foreign Sky by Xu Xi
VIEW EVENT DETAILSSpeaker:
Xu Xi
Author and Faculty Member, Vermont College of Fine Arts and the City University of Hong Kong
Moderator:
Andrew Brookes
Correspondent, BBC Washington
What happens when a high-powered female executive relinquishes all responsibilities?
For Gail, a mixed-race, single mother who loses her only child and her mother in the span of two years, the only thing that keeps her barely afloat in this world is her hard-earned career at a global investment bank. Her life goes into a rapid free fall, enduring her complicated past as she was once so sure of her direction in life. Set in the midst of the Asian financial crisis, Habit of a Foreign Sky is Xu Xi's latest book, which was short-listed for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize.
Xu Xi is author of seven books of fiction and essays and is currently faculty chair at Vermont College of Fine Arts and a full time writer-in-residence at the City University of Hong Kong. She has received many awards, including the 2006 O. Henry Prize Stories collection, and was also writer-in-residence at Chateau de Lavigny, University of Iowa and the Kerouac Project. Before becoming a full-time writer, she spent 18 years in international marketing and management, including posts at Federal Express, Leo Burnett Advertising and the Asian Wall Street Journal. Xu Xi will read from and discuss her latest novel, Habit of a Foreign Sky. The discussion will be moderated by former Beijing correspondent and current BBC correspondent, Adam Brookes. Books will be for sale.
Adam Brookes is BBC's Washington correspondent and reports for BBC TV, radio and online on American politics, economics and national security. Prior to moving to Washington, he served as BBC's correspondent in Beijing, and in Jakarta. His assignments have ranged from taken him to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, Myanmar and many other countries. Brookes is a visiting scholar at Harvard and holds a degree in Chinese from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
Xu Xi
Author and Faculty Member, Vermont College of Fine Arts and the City University of Hong Kong
Moderator:
Andrew Brookes
Correspondent, BBC Washington
What happens when a high-powered female executive relinquishes all responsibilities?
For Gail, a mixed-race, single mother who loses her only child and her mother in the span of two years, the only thing that keeps her barely afloat in this world is her hard-earned career at a global investment bank. Her life goes into a rapid free fall, enduring her complicated past as she was once so sure of her direction in life. Set in the midst of the Asian financial crisis, Habit of a Foreign Sky is Xu Xi's latest book, which was short-listed for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize.
Xu Xi is author of seven books of fiction and essays and is currently faculty chair at Vermont College of Fine Arts and a full time writer-in-residence at the City University of Hong Kong. She has received many awards, including the 2006 O. Henry Prize Stories collection, and was also writer-in-residence at Chateau de Lavigny, University of Iowa and the Kerouac Project. Before becoming a full-time writer, she spent 18 years in international marketing and management, including posts at Federal Express, Leo Burnett Advertising and the Asian Wall Street Journal. Xu Xi will read from and discuss her latest novel, Habit of a Foreign Sky. The discussion will be moderated by former Beijing correspondent and current BBC correspondent, Adam Brookes. Books will be for sale.
Adam Brookes is BBC's Washington correspondent and reports for BBC TV, radio and online on American politics, economics and national security. Prior to moving to Washington, he served as BBC's correspondent in Beijing, and in Jakarta. His assignments have ranged from taken him to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, Myanmar and many other countries. Brookes is a visiting scholar at Harvard and holds a degree in Chinese from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
Event Details
Tue 01 Feb 2011
Asia Society Washington The Cinnabar Room Whittemore House, 2nd Flr. 1526 New Hampshire Ave, NW Washington, D.C. 20036 washington, dc
Asia Society members: $10; Asia Society non-members: $12. RSVPs required by 12:00 pm on January 31.