One Story: Don Lee presents "The Partition," with Patrick Ryan

Don Lee joins us to present his newest story collection "The Partition," in conversation with Patrick Ryan. This virtual event, presented as part of the One Story Summer Conference, took place on Zoom. To purchase a copy of the book (and support Community Bookstore): www.communityb...
A note about the recording: A portion of the presentation has been edited out of this video, per the author's request.
About the book:
A thrilling new story collection from acclaimed writer Don Lee exploring Asian American identity, spanning decades and continents.
Twenty-one years after the publication of his landmark debut collection "Yellow," Don Lee returns to the short story form for his sixth book, "The Partition."
"The Partition" is an updated exploration of Asian American identity, this time with characters who are presumptive model minorities in the arts, academia, and media. Spanning decades, these nine novelistic stories traverse an array of cities, from Tokyo to Boston, Honolulu to El Paso, touching upon transient encounters in local bars, restaurants, and hotels.
Culminating in a three-story cycle about a Hollywood actor, "The Partition" incisively examines heartbreak, identity, family, and relationships--the characters searching for answers to universal questions: Where do I belong? How can I find love? What defines an authentic self?
"'The Partition' is flat-out brilliant: a witty, kaleidoscopic tear through questions of race and identity in America today by a writer who has wrought luminous fiction from these issues for years. Don Lee's collection offers vivid, entertaining proof that ethnicity is never straightforward or easy--no matter who we are, or where we stand." -Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "A Visit from the Goon Squad"
"Whatever you're hiding from may find you in a Don Lee story. But this isn't a warning. 'The Partition' is, again and again, about Asian Americans in ways we don't always admit we need, a collection about how we alternately cheat and show up for each other and ourselves. And the whole time, there's a canny, shrewd love, guiding us the way through." -Alexander Chee, author of "How to Write an Autobiographical Novel"
About our guests:
Don Lee's latest book, the story collection "The Partition," was published by Akashic Books in May. He is also the author of the collection "Yellow" and the novels "Country of Origin," "Wrack and Ruin," "The Collective," and "Lonesome Lies Before Us." He has received an American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. He lives near Baltimore with his wife, the writer Jane Delury, and directs the MFA program in creative writing at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Patrick Ryan is the author of the acclaimed short story collection "The Dream Life of Astronauts," as well as the novel-in-stories "Send Me" and three novels for young adults. His work has been included in the Best American Short Stories, Tin House, Crazyhorse, Tales of Two Cities, and elsewhere. The former associate editor of Granta, he is editor-in-chief of both One Story and One Teen Story. For more information please visit patrickryanbooks.com
About the conference:
The One Story Summer Conference is hosted annually by One Story Inc., an organization that supports the art form of the short story and the authors who write them through publication, education, community, and mentorship. Learn more at one-story.com