Getting excited for Fall for the Book? Set to launch on October 12 and continue from October 15-18, and featuring an impressive roster of authors, it's sure to be a fantastic festival.
I am especially delighted to be moderating a panel this year! I'll be in discussion with two debut novelists, Eunice Hong and Rania Hanna, in a session entitled "Respun Myths" on Thursday, October 17 at 4:30 pm at the Wilkins Plaza Tent (between the Johnson Center and Horizon Hall):
"Eunice Hong and Rania Hanna reimagine folklore and mythology to tell vivid and powerful family stories. Hanna’s debut novel The Jinn Daughter uses Middle Eastern mythology to tell a gripping story about a mother protecting her daughter. Author Ehigbor Okosun says, 'A beautiful, haunting homage to Middle Eastern folklore, The Jinn Daughter is a stirring tale of love, grief, and the depths we’re willing to go to save our loved ones.' In her debut novel, Memento Mori, Hong applies the Greek myths of Eurydice, Orpheus, Persephone, and Hades to a complicated Korean American family. Author Liv Albert calls Memento Mori 'an unexpected and thrilling story that features myth without being just a simple retelling.'"
I've spent the past week absorbed in the beautiful--often painful--worlds of these fantastic authors, their complex characters, and encountering their visceral emotions and experiences. As a scholar of the ancient Mediterranean world, I'm no stranger to myth, and both of these novels, The Jinn Daughter and Memento Mori, demonstrate a mastery of the traditional art form while creating something entirely new and modern that jumps off the page in full, vibrant contemporary color.
I'm more eager than ever to sit down with Eunice and Rania to chat about the craft of writing, including inspiration, myth as a shared point of departure, family and blood ties (both literal and figurative), and the female perspective on grief and loss.
I hope to see you there!
October 02, 2024