UPDATE (May 11, 2022) — This event has sold out. Tickets will not be available at the door.

Schedule

Sunday, May 15, 2022
7 p.m. Program
8 p.m. Reception and book signing

In her New York Times best-selling memoir Crying in H Mart, indie rockstar Michelle Zauner writes about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. As one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon, she struggled with her mother's high expectations while treasuring visits to her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college and performing gigs with her fledgling band, her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was 25, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

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Asia Society Texas is thrilled to welcome Ms. Zauner and acclaimed author Bryan Washington for a conversation on the development of her memoir, the origins and successes of her band Japanese Breakfast, writing about food, and how her family and Korean heritage has influenced her art.

Books will be available for purchase at the event and there will be an on-site book-signing following the program

Guests can also indulge all their Korean food cravings either before or after the program with delicious treats from Seoulside Wings food truck that will be available on-site.

About the Speaker

Michelle Zauner is best known as a singer and guitarist who creates dreamy, shoegaze-inspired indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has won acclaim from major music outlets around the world for releases like Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017). Her most recent album, Jubilee (2021), earned two Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album. Her first book, Crying in H Mart, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean-American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity, is a New York Times best seller. She’s currently adapting the memoir for the screen for MGM’s Orion Pictures.

About the Moderator

Bryan Washington is a writer from Houston. His debut short story collection, Lot, was published in 2019 and his first novel, Memorial, was published in 2020, both by Riverhead Books and Atlantic Books UK. He’s received a National Book Award 5 Under 35 honor, a New York Public Library Young Lions Award, an Ernest J. Gaines Award, an International Dylan Thomas Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award, a Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, and was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and he is a columnist for the New York Times Magazine.

Performing Arts and Culture programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Syamal and Susmita Poddar. Major support comes from Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Endowment, and The Brown Foundation Inc. Generous funding also provided by AARP, The Anchorage Foundation of Texas, The Clayton Fund, and Miller Theatre Advisory Board. Additional support provided by the Wortham Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, United Airlines, and through contributions from the Friends of Asia Society, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional programming and exhibitions to Asia Society Texas Center.

Performing Arts and Culture Presenting Sponsors

Syamal and Susmita Poddar

Official Airline Sponsor

Performing Arts and Culture Program Sponsors

Presenting Partner

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.