AAPI Heritage Month: An Evening With Asian American Authors & Storyteller

575 Congress Street,Portland ME 04101

16 May, 2023

Description

Description: Join Maine authors Marpheen Chann, Jaed Coffin, and Tess Gerritsen for a special panel discussion on Asian American literature, stories, and narratives, moderated by Kristina Powell, executive director of The Telling Room. Tess Gerritsen is an award-winning bestselling author. Her books have been top-3 bestsellers in the United States and number one bestsellers abroad. She has won both the Nero Wolfe Award (for Vanish) and the Rita Award (for The Surgeon). Critics around the world have praised her novels as “Pulse-pounding fun” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “Scary and brilliant” (Toronto Globe and Mail), and “Polished, riveting prose” (Chicago Tribune). Publisher Weekly has dubbed her the “medical suspense queen”. Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles” starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. She is also a filmmaker. She and her son Josh have just completed production of a feature-length documentary, “Magnificent Beast,” about the ancient origins of the pig taboo. Their previous film, “Island Zero”, is a feature-length horror movie that was released in 2018. Now retired from medicine, she writes full time. She lives in Maine. Jaed Coffin is the author of two memoirs, A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants and Roughhouse Friday. Jaed Coffin holds a B.A. in philosophy from Middlebury College and an M.F.A. from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Writing Program. A boxer, sea-kayaker, and lobster fisherman, he lives in Brunswick, Maine. Marpheen Chann is a politician, thinker, author, and speaker on social justice, equity, and inclusion. As a gay, first-generation Asian American born in California to a Cambodian refugee family and later adopted by an evangelical, white working-class family in Maine, Marpheen uses a mix of humor and storytelling to help people view topics such as racism, xenophobia, and homophobia through an intersectional lens.