San Francisco Public Library FALL 2018 sfpl.org/onecityonebook

Program Guide SAN FRANCISCO READS WELCOME

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the I encourage every San Franciscan to journey of an read this beautiful and enlightening immigrant family graphic novel this fall; I hope this to the U.S. timely memoir resonates with you I’m so excited as much as it has inspired me. Then to present our join us at your neighborhood library 14th annual for book clubs, author talks, poetry One City One Book, which is Thi Bui’s and history programs and more that elegantly written and masterfully highlight San Francisco Public Library’s drawn graphic novel, The Best We initiative to show that All Are Welcome Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir. in our libraries and in our City. The award-winning bestseller tells the story of Bui’s family’s life in Vietnam and coming to the U.S. as boat people in 1978. It explores her family’s history in Vietnam, her Acting City Librarian Michael Lambert and her siblings’ childhoods, and the struggle of her family to assimilate to their new country. While the story is a very personal one, it is also a universal one of hope and heartbreak, of displacement and longing for the past, and of the sacrifi ce and striving for a better future for our children. This book eloquently delves into the human side of the PROGRAM PARTNERS immigration story and is a must-read for anyone who cares about the conversations happening across our country.

1 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR FEATURED EVENT

Thi Bui was born Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator of in Vietnam three A Different Pond, a picture book by the The Immigrant Experience in Words & Pictures months before the poet Bao Phi. Her short comics can be end of the Vietnam found online at The Nib, PEN America, Author/Illustrator Thi Bui in Conversation with Author War, and came to and BOOM California. She is currently Lauren Markham the United States in researching and drawing a work of graphic 1978 as part of the nonfiction about how Asian American Thursday, October 25 “boat people” wave Pacific Islanders are impacted by detention 6 p.m. of refugees from and deportation, to be published by Koret Auditorium, Main Library Photo: Andria Lo Southeast Asia. Her One World, Random House. Thi taught Authors Thi Bui, The Best We Could Do and debut graphic memoir, The Best We Could high school in New York City and was a Lauren Markham, The Far Away Brothers, Do, published by Abrams ComicArts, was founding teacher of Oakland International discuss storytelling, immigration and what selected as UCLA’s Common Book for High School, the first public high school we can do as a community to support newly 2017, a National Book Critics Circle finalist in California for recent immigrants and arrived immigrants and refugees from around in autobiography, and an Eisner Award English learners. She is a faculty member the world. finalist in reality-based comics, and made of the MFA in Comics program at the several best of 2017 book lists, including California College of the Arts since 2015. Bill Gates’ top five picks. She is also the She lives in the Bay Area.

Lauren Markham Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental “I am truly honored that The Best We Could Do has been selected for One City is a writer based in Journalism, the 11th Hour Food and One Book 2018. As a refugee of the Vietnam War and an Asian American woman, Berkeley, California. Farming Journalism Fellowship, the Mesa the Bay Area’s rich history is incredibly important to me. It is where the term Her work has Refuge, and the Rotary Foundation. ‘Asian American’ was coined in the 60’s by student activists at Berkeley, and was appeared in VQR, For the past decade, she has worked in also the site of historic protests against the Vietnam War. We are living in a time VICE, Orion, Pacific the fields of refugee resettlement and in U.S. history where anti-immigration policies are simultaneously closing doors Standard, Guernica, immigrant education. on displaced people and separating families currently living in the U.S, and it is NewYorker.com, incredibly important that communities come together on a local level to speak on This American out against these injustices. The Best We Could Do is a book about the traumatic Life, and elsewhere. effects displacement has on families and the individual, and I hope that in being Lauren earned her MFA in Fiction Writing selected for the One City One Book program it is able to inspire Bay Area readers from Vermont College of Fine Arts and not just to have thoughtful and nuanced conversations about these issues, but also has been awarded Fellowships from the to take action.” Author/Illustrator Thi Bui

3 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 4 FOOD EVENTS & FILMS

Vietnamese Crispy Roasted Biblio Bistro Pork Sandwiches Vietnamese inspired vegetables Build your own Banh Mi sandwich Wednesday, October 17 Wednesday, October 3 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. 6 p.m. Heart of the City Farmer’s Market Portola Branch Library U.N. Plaza

Cooking expert Khanh Lu The Library’s mobile kitchen demonstrates how to make bánh mì, demonstrates how to cook simple a Vietnamese sandwich that is a fusion and healthy meals using fresh food of meats and vegetables from native from the farmer’s market. Learn how Vietnamese cuisine. Space is to prepare a Vietnamese spinach limited. Sign up at (415) 355-5660. dish inspired by James Beard Award- winning chef Charles Phan.

Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls Film Series Wednesday, October 17 Thursdays at Noon 6 p.m. Koret Auditorium, Main Library Mission Bay Branch Library Oct. 4: The Fog of War Cooking expert Khanh Lu Oct. 18: The Killing Fields demonstrates how to prepare fresh Vietnamese spring rolls. Space is Oct. 25: Faces of the Enemy: Justifying limited. Sign up at (415) 355-2838. the Inhumanity of War

5 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 6 HISTORY PROGRAMS

Wild Geese Sorrow Angel Island Chinese Wall Inscriptions San Francisco Archives Crawl: Immigration and Saturday, Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. Richmond Branch Library Migration Thursday, October 11 at 7 p.m. Saturday, October 13 Sunset Branch Library 1 – 5 p.m. The deep anger, sorrow, and San Francisco History Center loneliness of Chinese immigrant Main Library detainees held at the Angel Island Explore the City’s archives and Immigration Station between 1910- engage with institutions that collect 1940 are revealed in a new book of archival material during a special tour translations by East Bay poet and highlighting themes of immigration writer Jeffrey Thomas Leong. and migration.

Southeast Asian Other participants in the Archive Crawl: California Historical Society Community Memory Day San Francisco Public Library Society of California Pioneers Thursday, October 4 & Sutro Library, California State Library Saturday, October 6 at San Francisco State University 1 – 5 p.m. Environmental Design Archives, DIGI Center, Main Library UC Berkeley Helping San Francisco’s immigrant National Archives at San Francisco communities preserve and share their SFMOMA Archives collective memories. We will help you Sonoma County History & Genealogy digitize your family photos, creating Library a digital permanent library record of University of California, San Francisco daily life and cultural, historical and Archives and Special Collections political contributions of the Bay Area’s Southeast Asian community. For more information call (415) 557-4277.

7 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 8 ARTISTS, AUTHORS

She Who Has No Master(s) Asian American Authors Wednesday, October 17 Spill the Tea* 6 p.m. 2018 Litquake Litcrawl Koret Auditorium, Main Library Saturday, October 20 A collaborative poetry performance 6:30-8 p.m.: Friends of SFPL and readings by She Who Has No Members Reception Master(s), a collective of women and 8-9:30 p.m.: Readings gender nonconforming writers of the Mission Branch Library Vietnamese diaspora. Catch six of your fave Asian-American writers baring their souls to you in the 2018 Mission Litcrawl. The authors APAture participating are: Kristen Chen, Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, Akemi Sunday, October 21 Johnson, Rachel Khong and Nayomi 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Munaweera. Latino/Hispanic Community Room, *Tea. Noun, American slang: stories, Main Library gossip and personal truth.

Kearny Street Workshop’s APAture returns with their Book Arts Showcase, From Refugee to Detainee co-presented by Kularts. This year’s Southeast Asian Detention and featured artist, Jess Wu-O, leads an Deportation amazing roster of emerging Asian Pacific American Comics, Illustration, Sunday, October 21 and Zine artists who will be showcasing 2 p.m. their work. There will be demos, Koret Auditorium, Main Library panels, and live performances Join author Thi Bui and members throughout the day. APAture’s theme of the Laotian and Cambodian this year is RE/place, exploring the community as they discuss the lives multitude of ways we regard, impacted and how communities are re-imagine, re-invent, renew place. fighting back.

9 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 10 BOOK DISCUSSIONS

Western Addition Book Mission Book Club Club Tuesday, October 23 Wednesday, September 10 6:30 p.m. 4 p.m. Mission Branch Library Western Addition Branch Library Parkside Book Club Mission Bay Book Club Tuesday, October 30 Wednesday, September 26 7 p.m. 6:30 p.m. Parkside Branch Library Mission Bay Branch Library Richmond Book Club Ortega Book Club Tuesday, October 30 Saturday, October 20 6:30 p.m. 11 a.m. Richmond Branch Library Ortega Branch Library

Excelsior Book Club Tuesday, October 23 7 p.m. Excelsior Branch Library

11 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 12 READING GUIDE

1. The author desires to be closer to her parents as an adult and realizes “proximity The Best We Could Do addresses and closeness are not the same” (p. 31). identity, displacement and assimilation, What is your definition of proximity? race, decolonization and political and Closeness? How do these two words historical movements and their impact differ? Which of the two words would you on people, with advanced vocabulary, rather use to describe your relationship similes, idioms and historical context with your parents? and culture. While blending the written word with images, it promotes critical 2. The births of the six siblings are told in thinking through a coming-of-age reverse chronological order (pp. 42, 46, memoir laden with issues of cultural 47, 48, 50, and 52). What was the author’s and self-identity, and intergenerational purpose in using this storytelling element? trauma and endless sacrifice within a Is it effective? family. Using the graphic novel format, this book serves readers through verbal 3. “And imagine each block, each day and visual storytelling that supports turned us a little more American” (p. 65). multimodal teaching. “I learned about America mostly through books and TV, and from what my sisters As you Read: A Pronunciation Guide learned in school” (p. 67). If you were Some of the names and words that going to mentor a new classmate from appear in this story may be unfamiliar another country, how would you share and to students. Visit www.abramsbooks. explain what it means to be “a little more com/thebestwecoulddo for a list of American” to your new classmate? What approximately 100 names and terms in books, television shows, or other media Vietnamese, French, and Malay, along would you use to demonstrate your ideas? with recordings of their appropriate What elements in your everyday pronunciations. environment shape your national or cultural identity?

13 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 14 READING GUIDE

4. Examine the panels where someone 8. How did class differences affect people’s spits on Bô´ on page 67. What is meant experience of war and their decisions by “there were reasons to not want to be about which side to take? anything other?” How would you have reacted if you were Bô´? How would you 9. Describe the various authorities that react if you saw someone spit on another the Buis encounter during their refugee person? What might motivate one person experience. Who are they and from to react to another in that way? Can you where do they derive their power to make think of similar hateful actions and tensions decisions about refugees? Consider our you’ve seen or read about throughout national discussion on refugees today. history or on the news? How is it similar to the Buis’ experience? How does it differ? 5. “Don’t be such a REFUGEE!” (p. 285). What is meant by this comment? When 10. Examine the four panels on pages 128 you hear the word “refugee,” what do you and 129, and the quote “I had no idea that think of? How do perceptions of refugees the terror I felt was only the long shadow affect their experience? of his own” (p. 129). Compare Bô´’s upbringing in Viêt Nam to Thi’s upbringing 6. What is the difference between leaving in San Diego. How are they similar? a country voluntarily and being forced Different? What is meant by Thi’s quote? to leave your homeland? What are some How is trauma passed down between positive and negative effects of a generations? dislocation? 11. Page 66 refers to California’s 7. How did French colonialism influence Proposition 187, which voters passed Thi’s parents while they were growing up? in 1994 but was subsequently struck Cite specific examples from the book that down in a federal court. What were the show that impact. How might a French arguments for and against this law? colonist’s description of this influence What similarities do you see to debates differ from a Vietnamese nationalist’s? today on immigration?

15 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 16 SUGGESTED BOOKS & FILMS RELATED EXHIBIT

Emerging Artist Showcase: Tell Me How it Ends Sin Nombre The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui by Valeria Luisella 2009, R August 30, 2018 – January 14, 2019 The Cartoon Art Museum 781 Beach Street, San Francisco

The Cartoon Art Museum’s ongoing Emerging The Displaced: Artist Showcase features Thi Bui’s groundbreaking graphic novel, The Best We Refugee Writers On The Visitor Could Do, published by Abrams ComicArts. A selection of Bui’s original artwork Refugee Lives 2007, PG-13 will be on display. Ed. Viet Thanh Nguyen

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Fruit of the Drunken Tree The New by Ingrid Rojas Contreras Americans 2018 SELECTION COMMITTEE 2003, documentary Michelle Jeffers, Chief of Community Kevin Hunsanger, Co-Owner of Green Programs and Partnerships, SFPL Apple Books

Naomi Jelks, Adult Engagement Bob Deloria, Books Inc. The Deepest Well: Healing Which Way Coordinator, SFPL the Long-Term Effects of Deena Chalabi, Barbara and Stephan Home Childhood Adversity Alejandro Gallegos, Adult Engagement Vermut Associate Curator of Public by Nadine Burke Harris, M.D. 2009, documentary Manager, SFPL Dialogue, SFMOMA

Susan Mall, Vice President, San Francisco Anthony Costas, Chair, Louise & Claude Library Commission Rosenberg, Jr. Library & Learning Resource The Far Away Brothers: Center, City College of San Francisco Byron Spooner, Literary Director, Friends Two Young Migrants Journey From and the Making of an the Fall of the San Francisco Public Library 2006, R American Life Connie Wolf, Art, Culture, Education by Lauren Markham Consultant

17 Updated event information at sfpl.org/onecityonebook or (415) 557-4277 #onecityonebook @sfpubliclibrary #sfpubliclibrary 18 LIBRARY LOCATIONS

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