Jan. 3, 2001

Contact Debra Gwartney (541) 346-0544 or John R. Crosiar (541) 346-3135

EUGENE–Lan Samantha Chang, author of the highly praised book "Hunger," will read Thursday, Jan. 18, as part of the University of Oregon Creative Writing Program’s 2000-2001 Reading Series.

Her free public reading will begin at 8 p.m. in the Browsing Room of the Knight Library,
1501 Kincaid St. A book signing will immediately follow the reading.

"Hunger" has been widely praised, called "just plain good" and "an extreme and long overdue surprise" by The Washington Post Book World and a "strong fictional debut" by Newsday.

The book, a novella and collection of short stories, centers on the tenuous nature of family relationships, specifically focusing on the Chinese immigrant experience. Chang, herself a daughter of Chinese immigrants, relates that her parents did not like to talk about their experiences in China.

"They thought it was a kindness not to tell us about it. It would just load us down with sadness," she writes. However, this attitude only provoked Chang’s curiosity about her family’s past, knowing that there were important stories to tell.

She says she writes about a loss of the past common in immigrant families.

"That loss heightens the importance of children in those families," Chang notes.

Indeed, the transfer of hope onto the first-generation offspring is prevalent in the stunning title novella, which is about a father who, after failing to realize his dream of becoming a concert violinist, becomes determined his daughters will succeed in his place.

Chang, a daughter of Chinese immigrants, received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa in 1993. Since then, Chang has taught fiction at institutions such as Radcliffe, Stanford University and the University of Iowa. She also has garnered numerous awards and fellowships, including her most recent, the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in Prose.

Chang’s reading is co-sponsored by the UO Center for the Study of Women in Society. It is made possible with generous support from the College of Arts and Sciences.

The UO Creative Writing Program’s reading series will continue throughout the academic year. Poet Philip Levine is scheduled to read on March 1; fiction writer Frederick Busch, on April 11; and poet Sharon Olds, on May 17.

For more information, call the Creative Writing Program, (541) 346-0544.

—30—