Thao Thai Reading: Visiting Writer in Fiction

Please join the Department of English Visiting Writers Series for a reading and Q&A with Thao Thai.

Thao Thai is a writer based out of Ohio and an alumna of the Ohio State University’s MFA in Creative Writing Program, from which she graduated in 2012. Her debut novel, Banyan Moon (Mariner Books) was published on June 27, 2023. It was selected as an Indie Next pick, Indies Introduce Title, Book of the Month pick, and the HarperCollins Lead Read of Summer 2023. It was also longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Thao’s other work is published or forthcoming in the Los Angeles Review of Books, WIRED, Elle, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, Catapult, The Sunday Long Read, Cup of Jo, and more.

Banyan Moon is a sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch. From 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast, this deeply moving story considers the things we inherit and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Ethnic Studies, Asian American Studies, and the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. It is free and open to the public, and the reading will be followed by a Q&A and book signing. Books will be available for sale from Prologue Bookshop.