Korean Quarterly

Author Heinz Insu Fenkl to speak about novel Skull Water at Korea Society online event
2023-02-07 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | MN
Heinz Insu Fenkl, author of the just-published novel Skull Water, will speak in a free live event sponsored by the Korea Society, to be held February 7, 5:30 p.m. CST (6:30 EST).
Fenkl’s novel is based in his life experiences as a half-German, half-Korean kid growing up in 1970s Korea, dealing with identity and displacement, and his Korean family, especially his Big Uncle, a geomancer and scholar whose life was uprooted by war. Through Big Uncle, Insu is drawn to the folktales, legends, Buddhist thought, and supernatural qualities of Korean culture. He views his life in South Korea through this lens, as the homeland rapidly transforms into a more modern and Westernized country.
Fenkl is the author of the novel Memories of My Ghost Brother, a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. He is known internationally for his collection of Korean folktales and translations of classic Buddhist texts.
He is also a long-time regular contributor to Korean Quarterly of writings about Korean literature, and his own translations of North Korean serial comics (manhwa), including The Crystal Key.

Author David Mura to speak about new book
2023-02-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Minnesota Humanities Center, 987 Ivy Avenue East, St. Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Author David Mura will speak in a free book launch event of his new book The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives on Wednesday, February 8, 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Minnesota Humanities Center in St. Paul.
The book, available after January 31 from the University of Minnesota Press, uncovers pernicious narratives white people have created to justify white supremacy and sustain racist oppression.
From the country’s founding through the summer of Black Lives Matter in 2020, Mura unmasks how white stories about race attempt to erase the brutality of the past and underpin systemic racism in the present. The author explains racial narratives to dissolve the myth of whiteness and acknowledge the experiences of Black Americans.
Following a reading, best-selling author Alexs Pate will join Mura for a discussion on race, history, and education. A book signing will follow the talk. The event is open to the public and will include a moderated discussion with the author.
The Minnesota Humanities Center will offer a limited number of complimentary copies to event attendees and the University of Minnesota Press will have additional copies for purchase. The event is co-sponsored by the two organizations, and is part of the Minnesota Humanities Center’s Minnesota Writers Series, which amplifies the works of Minnesota authors about the human experience.
