Join us on Tuesday, May 28 at 7pm PT when Sally Wen Mao celebrates the release of her story collection, Ninetails, at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for Ninetails
"A sumptuous and lively collection, leaping from story to story in much the same way a fox does -- surprisingly, gracefully, and with impressive aim. I loved this book." - Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Get in Trouble and The Book of Love
"What I love most about Ninetails is its fierce allegiance to underdogs of all kinds, its careful and myriad empathy for its characters, but also its pure and artisanal delight in language and fictive possibilities. It marks, to my mind, the beginning of a poet's long and potent exploration in literature's most capacious genre. And it's a welcomed sight to see." --Ocean Vuong, New York Times-bestselling author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous and Time is a Mother
"Ninetails is a spirited modern fairy tale that takes cues from history, mythology, headline news, dating apps, and Mao's gift for sly observation. This is an exploration of the animal magic within the feminine, written with ardor and ambition." -- C Pam Zhang, author of Land of Milk and Honey
About Ninetails
A "sumptious and lively" fabulist debut collection of stories re-imagining the nine-tailed fox spirit of Asian folklore (Kelly Link).
A fox spirit avenges a teen girl by seducing her abuser. A shapeshifting woman finds herself chased through the woods by fox hunters; meanwhile, an assassination plot called Operation Fox Hunt unfolds against the last Queen of Korea. Chinese migrants hoping to make new lives as "paper children" in America find their pasts--and their hopes for the future--embodied in the foxes that haunt the harbor in 1900s Angel Island. In the nine tales of Ninetails, acclaimed poet Sally Wen Mao reimagines the fox spirit from Asian folklore--a shapeshifter, shaman, and seductress--as an icon of vengeance, solidarity and liberation. The characters of her stories are varied--from silicone sex dolls who come to life with new purpose, to women whose crushes manifest as stones--but they all reach for a common purpose: to find truth and belonging in a difficult world determined to consider them alien.
With the fabulist vibrancy of Carmen Maria Machado, the sinuous world-building of Helen Oyeyemi, and the sensuous feminist rage of Han Kang, Ninetails is both timeless--unearthing a cultural icon whose origins date back over a thousand years--and timely in its contemporary political urgency.
About Sally Wen Mao
Sally Wen Mao is the acclaimed author of three poetry collections--Oculus which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and one of Time Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019; Mad Honey Symposium, which named a Top Ten Debut of 2014 in Poets & Writers; and The Kingdom of Surfaces, a finalist for the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award. The recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, she's been published in The Paris Review, Harper Bazaar, Guenrica, PEN America, among others, with rave reviews of her writing in national outlets such as the New Yorker, NPR, and The Washington Post. She currently lives in New York City.
show less
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for Ninetails
"A sumptuous and lively collection, leaping from story to story in much the same way a fox does -- surprisingly, gracefully, and with impressive aim. I loved this book." - Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Get in Trouble and The Book of Love
"What I love most about Ninetails is its fierce allegiance to underdogs of all kinds, its careful and myriad empathy for its characters, but also its pure and artisanal delight in language and fictive possibilities. It marks, to my mind, the beginning of a poet's long and potent exploration in literature's most capacious genre. And it's a welcomed sight to see." --Ocean Vuong, New York Times-bestselling author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous and Time is a Mother
"Ninetails is a spirited modern fairy tale that takes cues from history, mythology, headline news, dating apps, and Mao's gift for sly observation. This is an exploration of the animal magic within the feminine, written with ardor and ambition." -- C Pam Zhang, author of Land of Milk and Honey
About Ninetails
A "sumptious and lively" fabulist debut collection of stories re-imagining the nine-tailed fox spirit of Asian folklore (Kelly Link).
A fox spirit avenges a teen girl by seducing her abuser. A shapeshifting woman finds herself chased through the woods by fox hunters; meanwhile, an assassination plot called Operation Fox Hunt unfolds against the last Queen of Korea. Chinese migrants hoping to make new lives as "paper children" in America find their pasts--and their hopes for the future--embodied in the foxes that haunt the harbor in 1900s Angel Island. In the nine tales of Ninetails, acclaimed poet Sally Wen Mao reimagines the fox spirit from Asian folklore--a shapeshifter, shaman, and seductress--as an icon of vengeance, solidarity and liberation. The characters of her stories are varied--from silicone sex dolls who come to life with new purpose, to women whose crushes manifest as stones--but they all reach for a common purpose: to find truth and belonging in a difficult world determined to consider them alien.
With the fabulist vibrancy of Carmen Maria Machado, the sinuous world-building of Helen Oyeyemi, and the sensuous feminist rage of Han Kang, Ninetails is both timeless--unearthing a cultural icon whose origins date back over a thousand years--and timely in its contemporary political urgency.
About Sally Wen Mao
Sally Wen Mao is the acclaimed author of three poetry collections--Oculus which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and one of Time Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019; Mad Honey Symposium, which named a Top Ten Debut of 2014 in Poets & Writers; and The Kingdom of Surfaces, a finalist for the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award. The recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, she's been published in The Paris Review, Harper Bazaar, Guenrica, PEN America, among others, with rave reviews of her writing in national outlets such as the New Yorker, NPR, and The Washington Post. She currently lives in New York City.
Join us on Tuesday, May 28 at 7pm PT when Sally Wen Mao celebrates the release of her story collection, Ninetails, at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for Ninetails
"A sumptuous and lively collection, leaping from story to story in much the same way a fox does -- surprisingly, gracefully, and with impressive aim. I loved this book." - Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Get in Trouble and The Book of Love
"What I love most about Ninetails is its fierce allegiance to underdogs of all kinds, its careful and myriad empathy for its characters, but also its pure and artisanal delight in language and fictive possibilities. It marks, to my mind, the beginning of a poet's long and potent exploration in literature's most capacious genre. And it's a welcomed sight to see." --Ocean Vuong, New York Times-bestselling author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous and Time is a Mother
"Ninetails is a spirited modern fairy tale that takes cues from history, mythology, headline news, dating apps, and Mao's gift for sly observation. This is an exploration of the animal magic within the feminine, written with ardor and ambition." -- C Pam Zhang, author of Land of Milk and Honey
About Ninetails
A "sumptious and lively" fabulist debut collection of stories re-imagining the nine-tailed fox spirit of Asian folklore (Kelly Link).
A fox spirit avenges a teen girl by seducing her abuser. A shapeshifting woman finds herself chased through the woods by fox hunters; meanwhile, an assassination plot called Operation Fox Hunt unfolds against the last Queen of Korea. Chinese migrants hoping to make new lives as "paper children" in America find their pasts--and their hopes for the future--embodied in the foxes that haunt the harbor in 1900s Angel Island. In the nine tales of Ninetails, acclaimed poet Sally Wen Mao reimagines the fox spirit from Asian folklore--a shapeshifter, shaman, and seductress--as an icon of vengeance, solidarity and liberation. The characters of her stories are varied--from silicone sex dolls who come to life with new purpose, to women whose crushes manifest as stones--but they all reach for a common purpose: to find truth and belonging in a difficult world determined to consider them alien.
With the fabulist vibrancy of Carmen Maria Machado, the sinuous world-building of Helen Oyeyemi, and the sensuous feminist rage of Han Kang, Ninetails is both timeless--unearthing a cultural icon whose origins date back over a thousand years--and timely in its contemporary political urgency.
About Sally Wen Mao
Sally Wen Mao is the acclaimed author of three poetry collections--Oculus which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and one of Time Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019; Mad Honey Symposium, which named a Top Ten Debut of 2014 in Poets & Writers; and The Kingdom of Surfaces, a finalist for the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award. The recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, she's been published in The Paris Review, Harper Bazaar, Guenrica, PEN America, among others, with rave reviews of her writing in national outlets such as the New Yorker, NPR, and The Washington Post. She currently lives in New York City.
read more
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for Ninetails
"A sumptuous and lively collection, leaping from story to story in much the same way a fox does -- surprisingly, gracefully, and with impressive aim. I loved this book." - Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Get in Trouble and The Book of Love
"What I love most about Ninetails is its fierce allegiance to underdogs of all kinds, its careful and myriad empathy for its characters, but also its pure and artisanal delight in language and fictive possibilities. It marks, to my mind, the beginning of a poet's long and potent exploration in literature's most capacious genre. And it's a welcomed sight to see." --Ocean Vuong, New York Times-bestselling author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous and Time is a Mother
"Ninetails is a spirited modern fairy tale that takes cues from history, mythology, headline news, dating apps, and Mao's gift for sly observation. This is an exploration of the animal magic within the feminine, written with ardor and ambition." -- C Pam Zhang, author of Land of Milk and Honey
About Ninetails
A "sumptious and lively" fabulist debut collection of stories re-imagining the nine-tailed fox spirit of Asian folklore (Kelly Link).
A fox spirit avenges a teen girl by seducing her abuser. A shapeshifting woman finds herself chased through the woods by fox hunters; meanwhile, an assassination plot called Operation Fox Hunt unfolds against the last Queen of Korea. Chinese migrants hoping to make new lives as "paper children" in America find their pasts--and their hopes for the future--embodied in the foxes that haunt the harbor in 1900s Angel Island. In the nine tales of Ninetails, acclaimed poet Sally Wen Mao reimagines the fox spirit from Asian folklore--a shapeshifter, shaman, and seductress--as an icon of vengeance, solidarity and liberation. The characters of her stories are varied--from silicone sex dolls who come to life with new purpose, to women whose crushes manifest as stones--but they all reach for a common purpose: to find truth and belonging in a difficult world determined to consider them alien.
With the fabulist vibrancy of Carmen Maria Machado, the sinuous world-building of Helen Oyeyemi, and the sensuous feminist rage of Han Kang, Ninetails is both timeless--unearthing a cultural icon whose origins date back over a thousand years--and timely in its contemporary political urgency.
About Sally Wen Mao
Sally Wen Mao is the acclaimed author of three poetry collections--Oculus which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and one of Time Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019; Mad Honey Symposium, which named a Top Ten Debut of 2014 in Poets & Writers; and The Kingdom of Surfaces, a finalist for the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award. The recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, she's been published in The Paris Review, Harper Bazaar, Guenrica, PEN America, among others, with rave reviews of her writing in national outlets such as the New Yorker, NPR, and The Washington Post. She currently lives in New York City.
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