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Thao Thai
Authors at the Library
Sunday, November 15
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Main Library
AuditoriumWOSU's Christopher Purdy will be in conversation with Thao Thai about her newest novel, The Seekers of Deer Creek, a literary exploration of family, art and healing.
Authors at the Library
Christopher Purdy In Conversation with THAO THAI
Sunday, November 15 | 2 p.m.
Auditorium | Main Library | 96 S. Grant Ave.
1:30 p.m. | Seating opens, Book sale by Gramercy
2:00 p.m. | Christopher Purdy in conversation with Thao Thai
2:45 p.m. | Audience Q&A
3:00 p.m. | Book sale and signing
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thao Thai is the author of Banyan Moon, the July 2023 Read with Jenna title, Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, and Book of the Month selection. Banyan Moon was also selected by booksellers as an IndieNext pick and longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. She was the recipient of the 2024 Ohio Arts Council’s Individual Excellence Award, and her work has been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, WIRED, Elle, Lit Hub, and other publications. She lives in central Ohio with her husband and daughter.
ABOUT THE BOOK
An art mystery wrapped inside a family saga…
Aside from the fact they are sisters, Vivi and Calla Nguyễn have little in common.
Vivi, the eldest, lives an orderly and predictable life. She works as an art conservator at a museum in Chicago, carefully preserving pieces of the past, all the while refusing to examine her own dark history.
Calla leads a much bolder, if occasionally reckless, existence. She’s an accomplished artist with a flair for the dramatic, charming and intriguing everyone she meets. She’s also a recovering addict, constantly causing Vivi to worry.
Months after the two fall out in the wake of their father’s death, Calla appears on the steps of the museum with a sketch and a letter she found in their father’s belongings. The sketch is an exact copy of Blue Mirror, a striking painting by a Vietnamese painter named K.P. Lý. In the letter, Lý writes about a mysterious lost work of art. Calla is convinced it is meant for their family, and that it was their father’s deathbed wish for her and Vivi to find it together. Intrigued yet reluctant to follow her capricious sister, Vivi must decide whether she’s willing to face or shut the door to the past.
From the ghostly Wisconsin woods to a glittering estate in the French countryside to a sprawling ancestral home teetering on the edge of a ravine in Việt Nam, The Seekers of Deer Creek is a story of sisters, art, and the irresistible gravity of the past—how it endures across time and generations, always present even when buried.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Christopher Purdy is the host of All Sides Weekends Books and Classical 101's early morning. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.
EVENT DETAILS
The event is free to the public but due to limited seating registration is requested.
Thao's books will be sold on site by Gramercy Books.
Parking available in Main Library's attached garage, while available.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Authors at the Library |
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