From April 27 to May 2, Taiwanese award-winning author Kevin Chen (陳思宏) will deliver four rounds of talks on his novel "Ghost Town (鬼地方)" in Texas to share his personal experiences of becoming a fiction writer and explore the haunting history of Taiwan.
At the invitation of the Taiwan Academy of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston, Rice University, University of St. Thomas, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin Central Library, and in collaboration with the Asia Society Texas Center and Inprint, Chen will hold his first session of book talk on April 27 at Rice University. Pritha Bhattacharyya, an award-winning American author, will serve as the moderator for the exciting dialogue with Chen.
The second session with the theme "Politics, Society, and History of Taiwan" will be held at the University of St. Thomas on April 28; while the third session at the University of Texas at Austin on May 2 will screen a documentary titled "Taipeilove" which covers the topic of homosexuality and Taiwan's unique way to same-sex marriage as the first country in Asia, and it will be followed by a Q&A discussion with the Berlin-based director Lucie Liu.
Kevin Chen is a Germany-based Taiwanese writer who began his career as an actor in cinema and theater, and has gained recognition for his novels, essays, and short story collections published in Taiwan. He has won several literary awards in Taiwan and his first English novel "Ghost Town," which tells a story about a small town in Taiwan's countryside and a family haunted by its own ghosts, received positive reviews from the New York Times, NPR, and Publishers Weekly, and more. It was named one of the Best Books of World Literature in 2022 by Library Journal and the longlist of PEN Translation Prize 2023. Additionally, the novel is scheduled to be translated into 10 languages.