Seeds in a Rapid River: Kao Kalia Yang’s Collective Storytelling

Kao Kalia Yang reads from Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life and the picture book A Home on the Page. Yang’s writing channels the voices and experiences of her family and community into collective memoirs, incorporating sung Hmong poetry and storytelling with written English—and visual art. Her work shows how creative, embodied practices remake home and belonging in the wake of war and displacement and in the face of the discrimination and material hardship that often accompany resettlement.

American literature and Hmong studies scholar and poet Debra Kue will engage Yang in conversation and lead audience Q&A.

SUNY Upstate hosts this event, offering signed book giveaways, thanks to the Upstate Medical University Library.

Please RSVP here!

This event is featured in the Humanities Center's 2026-2027 Syracuse Symposium on "Dreams."