Conversation moderated by Lois Kim, Executive Director, Texas Book Festival.
Celeste Ng’s runaway New York Times bestselling novel Little Fires Everywhere won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fiction. It is a riveting story that traces the fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother-daughter pair who upend their lives in the idyllic suburban bubble of Shaker Heights, Ohio, where all aspects of life are planned. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren, who rents a house from the Richardsons. When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town—and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past, but her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs. Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood—and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.
Celeste Ng grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She attended Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan. Her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and the ALA’s Alex Award.
“I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting. With brilliance and beauty, Celeste Ng dissects a microcosm of American society just when we need to see it beneath the microscope. . . . Be ready to be wowed by Ng’s writing—and unsettled by the mirror held up to one’s own beliefs.” —Jodi Picoult