Big Read Podcast with Kao Kalia Yang


By Samra Khawaja
Headshot of Kao Kalia Yang
Kao Kalia Yang. Photo courtesy of Kao Kalia Yang.
Among the 13 new NEA Big Read titles that were added to the program this year is Kao Kalia Yang’s The Latehomecomer. This story is the first published memoir by a Hmong-American writer. The Latehomecomer not only is the story of a family, but the larger story of the Hmong people. The novel transports readers to a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand and then in America, giving readers an insight into the day-to-day uncertainties of refugees. As Yang says, writing this story led her to find that she speaks for many different people throughout the world. In our one-on-one podcast with the author, hear her talk about what motivated her to write the memoir, find out when she discovered her own writing, and why she thinks reading and telling a story are unique in their own way. Click here for the full podcast. 
Graphic quote that reads, it was important for me to write the book to tell the world that a woman who never learned how to read or write had lived, and that she not only lived, she'd walked through history.
Graphic quote that reads, sometimes I've succeeded and sometimes I've failed. But I can honestly say I've never not tried.
Graphic quote that reads, every door that opens, I have to make sure that it's open for the next one.