(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- New Jersey City University's Center for the Arts presents a Literature to Life stage presentation of "The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir" by Kao Kalia Yang on Wednesday, May 18th at 10:00am. It will be performed by Gaosong Heu from an adaptation by Aurea Tomeski & Elise Thoron. This is a free virtual event with a filmed performance and live post-show talkback.
Told with the immediacy of the author as a young girl, born in the Ban Vinai Refugee camp in Thailand, Kao Kalia arrives in the US when she is six. The story follows her journey from a quiet, reticent student struggling to speak English while facing racial discrimination, to a self-empowered young woman claiming her voice to tell the untold story of her people. In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand, finally emigrating to America; but lacking a written language of their own.
Driven to tell her family’s story after her grandmother’s death - the Hmong experience has been primarily recorded by others - The Latehomecomer is Kao Kalia Yang’s tribute to her remarkable grandmother whose spirit held them all together. It is also an eloquent, firsthand account of a people who have worked hard to make their voices heard.
This virtual event is free with registration. Click here to register.
Gaosong V. Heu is a Hmong American performance artist, musician, vocalist, published writer, educator, and traditional Flower Singer, Gaosong has over 15 years of training in Western Classical music, as well as training in traditional styles of Hmong folk music. The performance tells a universal story of immigration, through the specific lens of this ancient culture inextricably bound to the history of the war in Vietnam.
Appropriate for elementary, middle, high school, and college ages. Study guide available upon request.
New Jersey City University (NJCU) Center for the Arts is the creative umbrella for the University’s public programs in the performing, visual, film, and literary arts. A cultural hub of metro-north Jersey, NJCU has strong arts departments, led by accomplished faculty, and presents an array of guest artists and speakers in addition to student performances.
