Category: Siel

Siel Ju’s publications and events

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Siel wants to see you in September

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I just quit my day job. And while I suddenly have a lot more time for socializing and posing for pics with photogenic purple veggies, I’d love to see you at one of my three September readings — all of which are free and open to the public:
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All Lit Up. (Facebook event page) Thursday, September 7, 7 pm, 126 N Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles

I’ve wanted to be a part of this monthly series at Chevalier’s since forever — so this reading is a dream come true for me! I’ll be reading with poets Charif Shanahan (Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford), Victoria Chang (recipient of a 2017 Guggenheim Fellowship) — and the wonderful Rich Ferguson (New Jersey Me) will emcee
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Siel Ju — Cake Time: One Book / One Glendale. (Eventbrite page) Thursday, September 14, 2017, 7 pm, Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale, CA

Come eat cake from a local bakery and hear me read from Cake Time!
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Griffith Park Storytelling Series (a 90x90LA event). (Facebook event page) Sunday, September 24, 2017, 5 pm – 7 pm. In the Bronson Caves, Griffith Park (follow directions on website), Los Angeles

Back at the beginning of summer, I wrote about 90x90LA — and I’m psyched to be taking part in one of the series’ events! Spend an afternoon in the park listening to lit from Allison Conner, Lynell George, Daniel Jose Ruiz, Oscar Sagastume, and yours truly. Snacks and drinks will be provided.
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Hope to see you at one or all three — Each will be pretty different, and I’ll wear three separate outfits, so you won’t be bored!

Photo by Jesse DeYoung

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Cake Time in August: Two readings, two interviews

Is it really August already? Last night I had a nightmare that stores were already selling Halloween-themed tchotchkes. I woke up to a happier world, if rather anxious to really make the most of the rest of this summer —

And I hope you’ll be part of it. I have a couple readings coming up in Los Angeles — both free and open to the public — so please come on by and hear me read from my novel-in-stories, Cake Time!

First, up, the latest Roar Shack reading (more about the series here) happens Sunday, and I’ll be reading with Martina Blumenthal, Lisa Cheby, Brad Griffith, Patrick O’Neil, and Jane Starr:

Roar Shack presents “Shine On” Sunday
Sunday, August 13, 2017, 4 pm – 5:30 pm
826LA, 1714 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles

Then just a few days later I’ll give my first library reading:

Author’s Club: Siel Ju
(Facebook event page)
Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 6 pm
Westwood Branch Library, 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles

I realize 6 pm on a Wednesday is an odd time — but you know, there’s a bar down the street from me that always seems to be packed then, so my guess is many of you can get out of work on time and make it! We can all go out for happy hour later —

In other cakey news:

— Juked interviewed me about Cake Time, and I said things like this: “I think cake brings up a lot of emotions, some pleasurable and cheerful, some disturbing and dirty.” Read the whole thing here: An Uncontrollable Sweet Tooth: A Conversation with Siel Ju.

— The Story Prize featured an interview with me about writing, in which I said things like this: “I go through periods where I actually worry my excessive reading is a sign of something, I don’t know, bad.” You can read more about my bad habits here: Siel Ju and the Suitable State of Mind.

Also, did you notice my website’s been redesigned? Thanks to Kim Woodbridge for her amazing WordPress skills! Leave a comment or drop me a line and let me know what you think of the new look —

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I’m on the Otherppl podcast

Ever wondered about my thoughts on religion, AA, and the Midwest? Okay, maybe you haven’t — but tune in to the latest episode of Otherppl with Brad Listi, my favorite literary podcast, to hear me ramble about all of those topics and more!

I’ve listened to so many authors I admire on Otherppl, so it was an honor and a treat to get to be part of the podcast myself —

And I talked about a lot of things I don’t usually talk about. Religion, AA, and the Midwest are three of these topics, but the episode also has interludes about boarding school, not being vegan, self-help books, and aimlessness.

Give it a listen — and if you have thoughts or questions about it, drop me a line.

Thanks to Brad for having me! If you’re not yet subscribed to Otherppl, subscribe now —

More: 5 best literary podcasts in Los Angeles

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One book review in The Los Angeles Review

The very last print issue of The Los Angeles Review came in the mail a few weeks ago — and in the back pages is a book review of Nadine Darling’s She Came From Beyond! written by yours truly —

I’m so glad that The Los Angeles Review has now gone all digital (there’ll still be a best-of print annual), because that means the reviews get published in a more timely manner. Seriously — I turned in this review for LAR back in April 2016!

More than a year later, it’s finally made its way into print — along with some other great reviews plus fiction and poetry. My favorite piece in this issue was a short fiction piece called “Stories About Men” by Rhian Sasseen:

I shouldn’t have strayed–but then again, what is literature beyond the stories of cheating wives? When that man standing beside me at the birthday party shrugged and confided, “I don’t really understand what women see in men,” I had to show him.

You can buy the last print issue of The Los Angeles Review online — and read and submit your work for future issues online.

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Cake Time interview with The Rumpus

Thank you to The Rumpus for interviewing me about Cake Time and writing! Here’s a quick excerpt from A Funny Inevitability: In Conversation with Siel Ju:

Rumpus: You ended the novel on this note of uncertainty with the character in this common adult situation, with someone who doesn’t want to define the relationship. And your main character is suppressing an urge to laugh at life’s absurdity. How did you decide that was where you wanted to end the novel?

Ju: I think I wanted to leave it like a continuing journey, because real life doesn’t have neat tied up ends. Chick lit generally ends with a happy ending of the girl gets the guy, so I wanted this book to be somewhat in contrast to that. I wanted the sense that she had learned something, but that there are other things that are not learnable in a way, because life isn’t over.

Read the whole thing over at The Rumpus. Talking to Stephanie Siu was a blast — I wish I could have hung out with her while I was in New York last month. Follow her on Twitter at @openstephanie!

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Thank you Brooklyn and Philadelphia

Thank you to Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn for hosting the Red Hen Press reading earlier this month — with a wine reception, no less!

This gorgeous neighborhood bookstore was such a fun place to read — and it was an honor to get to read with two of my fellow Red Hen authors, Ellen Meeropol and Amy Hassinger.

We had a mini Vermont Studio Center reunion at the bookstore. So great to see you Christina, Celeste, and Kiley (left to right)!

Sara, whom I met at Tin House Winter Writing Workshop, was also there, as was my writing buddy Beth, who abandoned L.A. for Brooklyn a few months ago. We walked the Brooklyn Bridge the next morning —

The reading with Celeste Gainey at Big Blue Marble Bookstore in Philadelphia was small and sweet. Thanks for hosting us at this cozy place!

I stopped in New Jersey to see one more friend from Tin House, Ananda Lima, plus Alison, my college roommate!

Then I flew to Toronto to visit another writing friend, Marilyn Duarte, whom I met a few years ago at Disquiet in Lisbon. Thanks for showing me around the city, Marilyn!

A couple lessons learned from this east coast mini book tour:

1. Going to a lot of writing workshops and programs and residencies means having writerly friends scattered across the world (actually, mostly in Brooklyn) who’ll support you!

2. There are three airports, not two, in the NYC area. I knew this but somehow forgot — and was reminded when I showed up at Newark instead of La Guardia for my flight to Toronto! (I knew I wasn’t flying out of JFK, and so assumed Newark) Everything turned out fine though —

I’ll be sure to double check the airport before future flights! That said, my next readings will happen in such exotic places as Echo Park, Westwood, and Glendale! L.A. area people — Hope to see you there.