In 2020 the novel “American Dirt” was released to great fanfare, after a bidding war had resulted in a seven-figure advance for the author. The accolades rolled in: “American Dirt” remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for 36 weeks, and emerged as one of the best-selling books of the year. It has been published in 37 languages and has sold over three million copies worldwide.
Then the controversy hit. In USA Today Barbara VanDenburgh commented, “These character, story and style missteps would be problematic no matter the source. But it matters in this case that the source is a European-born woman in the U.S. without ties to the Mexican migrant experience.”
Suddenly the book world was abuzz: Who exactly was allowed to write about which experiences? And what precisely constituted cultural appropriation in publishing?
In a riff on this real-life situation, R. F. Kuang addresses these questions and more in “Yellowface: A Novel,” the Columbia Public Library’s First Thursday Book Discussion selection for April.
White June Hayward and Asian Athena Liu are competitive young authors, but while Athena has been heralded as a bright star, June has experienced only moderate success. After June watches Athena unexpectedly die in a fluke accident, she rashly steals Athena’s just-completed draft of a novel that highlights the contributions of World War I Chinese workers.
June edits Athena’s draft and sends it off to her agent as her own creation. Publishers adore it, and June Heyward is swiftly rebranded as Juniper Song, complete with a racially-ambiguous photo.
What follows in the story raises issues of plagiarism, diversity, racism and the impact of social media, all bookended by some questionable characters.
Please join us on Thursday, April 3 at noon in the Children’s Program Room at the Columbia Public Library for a discussion of these timely topics in “Yellowface: A Novel.”
