Saturday, September 11 | 1 PM
Central Library | 500 McKinney | 77002
Join us for a special visit from Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi and Laughing without an Accent, who will discuss her work and sign copies of her books.
In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father’s glowing memories of his graduate school years here. More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since. Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas’s wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost his job during the Iranian revolution; her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting pot.
In a series of deftly drawn scenes, we watch the family grapple with American English (hot dogs and hush puppies?—a complete mystery), American traditions (Thanksgiving turkey?—an even greater mystery, since it tastes like nothing), and American culture (Firoozeh’s parents laugh uproariously at Bob Hope on television, although they don’t get the jokes even when she translates them into Farsi). Above all, this is an unforgettable story of identity, discovery, and the power of family love. It is a book that will leave us all laughing—without an accent.
Saturday, September 18 | 3:30 PM
Montgomery County Memorial Library System – South Regional Library
2101 Lake Robbins Dr. | 77380
Join us for a special visit from Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese and The Eternal Smile, who will discuss his work and sign copies of his books.
Gene Luen Yang is an educator and a graphic novelist. He teaches computer science classes at a Roman Catholic high school in Oakland, California. In a Booklist interview, Yang explained his initial interest in comics: "I bought my first comic in the fifth grade, and I started drawing them shortly thereafter with a friend. Then in seventh grade, we both got interested in girls, and comics became really uncool. So I stopped drawing them, and I also stopped reading them. In high school, I took a comics class, and I started getting really heavily into them again."
In 2006 Yang wrote and illustrated American Born Chinese, which was colored by Lark Pien. The graphic novel contains three stories. The first introduces Jin Wang, a teen who adjusts to life in a white area of town after moving from San Francisco's Chinatown. The second story involves Danny, a popular teenaged jock who worries that his nerdy cousin, Chin-Kee, will ruin his reputation when he enrolls at the same high school. The third story is more mythical, with the Monkey King trying to attain the status of a god. Each character is unhappy with who they are and must learn to accept themselves before they can truly be happy.
See Gene Yang at Graphic Novel Day!
Monday, September 27 | 5:30 PM
Jungman Neighborhood Library | 5830 Westheimer Rd. | 77057
Join us for a special visit from Anousheh Ansari, author of My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer, who will discuss her work and sign copies of her book.
In her heartwarming and empowering memoir, space pioneer Anousheh Ansari tells the story of her childhood in Iran and her family's exodus to America after the Islamic Revolution. After settling down in Texas, Anousheh built a computer technology firm from the ground up, which eventually realized a net worth of $750 million and ultimately allowed her to achieve her childhood dream of spaceflight. In her groundbreaking role as the first-ever female commercial spaceflight participant, her story became politicized and fraught with the prejudices and obstacles she had to overcome as an Iranian woman, culminating in a debate over whether she would be allowed to display both the American and Iranian flags on the sleeve of her spacesuit.
After her return to Earth, Anousheh started The Ansari Foundation, a quickly growing nonprofit which supports social entrepreneurship, and is especially committed to ensuring the freedom of women around the world and supporting female entrepreneurs. Ultimately, this evocative story shows the triumph of a woman who has become a role model to people around the globe struggling to overcome economic and cultural barriers, as well as those dreamers who look upon the stars and wish to soar among them.
Anousheh Ansari currently works to enable social entrepreneurs to bring about radical change globally, with organizations such as ASHOKA and the PARSA Community Foundation. She also hopes her tale of determination, hope and success inspires children to dream big and study hard to overcome obstacles and reach their dreams.
Courtesy of Books and Authors