The Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library invites you to join the conversation with Jenna Tang, translator of Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise a novel originally written by Chinese author, Lin Yi-Han.
Originally by Lin Yi-Han, Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise is one of the most iconic works of Taiwan's #MeToo movement. It offers a heartbreaking account of sexual violence and a remarkable reinvention of the trauma plot, turning the traditional Lolita narrative upside down as it explores women's vulnerability, victimization, and the lengths they will go to survive.
This book talk will feature Jenna Tang sharing her insights on the book, with the discussion moderated by Dr. Shana Ye, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies in the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough and in the Women and Gender Studies Institute of the University of Toronto.
- Date: September 23, 2024
- Time: 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (EDT)
- Location: In person at the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, 8th floor of Robarts Library, 130 St. George Street, Toronto
- Light refreshments will be served
- U of T Bookstore book sale onsite, credit card only
- Registration is required. Please RSVP via the registration link: https://forms.gle/wBR7YhrtUWHt3idKA
There will be a book sale during the event, provided by the U of T Bookstore. Please note that only credit card payments will be accepted.
For accommodations and inquiries, please email eal.events@utoronto.ca.
This event is hosted by the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library at the University of Toronto Libraries, with sponsorship from the Taipei Cultural Center in New York, the Ministry of Culture Republic of China (Taiwan), and co-sponsorship from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office Toronto, the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and the Women and Gender Studies Insititute at the University of Toronto.
About the Speakers
Jenna Tang is a Taiwanese writer, educator, and translator who translates between Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French, and English. She is a board member and chair of the Equity Advocates Committee at the American Literary Translators Association. Her translations and essays are published in McSweeney’s, Lit Hub, The Paris Review, Latin American Literature Today, World Literature Today, Catapult, AAWW, Words Without Borders, and elsewhere. Her translations include Taiwanese feminist author Lin Yi-Han’s novel, Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise (HarperVia).
Dr. Shana Ye is an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies in the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough, with a graduate appointment at the Women and Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto. Her specializations include transnational feminism, queer studies, theories of affect and trauma, media studies, and Sinophone science and science fiction studies. Her monograph Queer Chimerica: A Speculative Auto/Ethnography of the Cool Child (2024) examines the transnational circulation of queer politics and the relationship between queer fluidity and labour flexibility.
About the Author
Lin Yi-Han (1991-2017) was a Taiwanese writer, and author of the novel Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise, which was her first and only novel. It has sold over a million copies globally and won prizes, including the Open Book Best Fiction Award and the Liang Yu-Sen Literary Award. Witten in Taiwanese, the novel is semi-autobiographical and has become a feminist manifesto across Asia, sparking urgent conversations around the #MeToo movement in Taiwan. Lin Yi-Han also wrote for INK magazine and BuzzFeed.
