On November 13, 2023, the Subir and Malini Foundation Distinguished Speakers Series welcomed Maxine Hong Kingston to the University of Southern California. Kingston appeared at Bovard Auditorium in an event presented by the USC Dornsife Department of English and USC Visions & Voices, with additional support from KCRW, and co-sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the USC Center for Transpacific Studies. Kingston read from her work, including an unpublished diary/essay about a visit to the border, and engaged in a wide-ranging conversation with USC Professor and Air/Light editor David L. Ulin.
Maxine Hong Kingston is the author of The Woman Warrior, China Men, Tripmaster Monkey, and The Fifth Book of Peace, among other works. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award, and the Emerson-Thoreau Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She received the National Humanities Medal from President Clinton, and the National Medal of Arts from President Obama. She is a Living Treasure of Hawai’i, a professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, and lives in Oakland, California.
The entrance to the Bovard Auditorium prior to the start of “An Evening with Maxine Hong Kingston” (Gina Clyne 2023)
Dana Johnson, chair of the USC Department of English, introducing “An Evening with Maxine Hong Kingston” (Gina Clyne 2023)
Maxine Hong Kingston at “An Evening with Maxine Hong Kingston” (Gina Clyne 2023)
Maxine Hong Kingston reading from her work at “An Evening with Maxine Hong Kingston” (Gina Clyne 2023)
Maxine Hong Kingston in conversation with David L. Ulin at “An Evening with Maxine Hong Kingston” (Gina Clyne 2023)
Maxine Hong Kingston signing books at “An Evening with Maxine Hong Kingston” (Gina Clyne 2023)