*Covid-19 Update: This winter, the Library’s Evening with an Author series will continue to meet virtually, via Zoom. These events, which are free and open to the public, require advance sign up. Evenings with an Author programs begin at 19h30 (Central European Time). Please check eLibris or our programs calendar for updates and line-up.

Register here!

An evening of conversation with Lisa See on writing, inspiration, and female friendships

Please join us for a conversation with New York Times bestselling author Lisa See (moderated by Pauline Lemasson) about writing, creativity and inspiration, female friendships, and historical research, with particular focus on her novels Shanghai Girls (2010), The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (2017) and The Island of Sea Women (2019). See’s fiction is widely read and beloved for her deep look into Chinese culture and history, the focus on female friendships, and the long arc of historical events written in lavish detail. We will discuss her writing process, where she finds creativity and inspiration, how she dives into historical research, and what she finds in female relationships that hold up against time, hardship, and life-changing choices.

Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of The Island of Sea Women, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, The Island of Sea Women, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, China Dolls, and Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1. She is also the author of On Gold Mountain, which tells the story of her Chinese American family’s settlement in Los Angeles. Ms. See has also written a mystery series that takes place in China. Her books have been published in 39 languages.  See was the recipient of the Golden Spike Award from the Chinese Historical Association of Southern California and the History Maker’s Award from the Chinese American Museum. She was also named National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women.

Ms. See wrote the libretto for Los Angeles Opera based on On Gold Mountain, which premiered in June 2000. That same year, she also curated the exhibition On Gold Mountain: A Chinese American Experience at the Autry Museum. Ms. See then helped develop and curate the Family Discovery Gallery at the Autry Museum, an interactive space for children and their families that focused on Lisa’s bi-racial, bi-cultural family. In 2003, she curated the inaugural exhibition—a retrospective of artist Tyrus Wong—for the grand opening of the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles.

Pauline Lemasson is contributing writer on culture, history, and current affairs for Inspirelle and Untapped Paris. She was formerly the Strategic Partnerships Manager at the American Library in Paris and Executive Director of the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles.