Kim Fu and "Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century"

Spokane Is Reading 2023

The culminating Spokane Is Reading event, celebrating Seattle author Kim Fu and her book "Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century."

We’re so thrilled that Kim Fu will take part in two free presentations on Thursday, October 26th as part of the 2023 Spokane Is Reading celebration.

Afternoon presentation:

1:00 pm (doors open at 12:15) – Spokane Valley Library, 22 North Herald Road, Spokane Valley WA 99206
Phone: 509-893-8350
Free parking is available in the library’s parking lot.

Evening presentation:

7:00 pm (doors open at 6:15) – Central Library, 906 West Main Ave, Spokane, WA 99201
Phone: 509-444-5300
Paid parking is available in the library’s underground lot. There is metered parking on the streets until 7pm (free after 7pm).

About Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century:

In the twelve unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible, Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of children steal a haunted doll; a runaway bride encounters a sea monster; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman. These visions of modern life wrestle with themes of death and technological consequence, guilt and sexuality, and unmask the contradictions that exist within all of us.

Mesmerizing, electric, and wholly original, Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century blurs the boundaries of the real and fantastic, offering intricate and surprising insights into human nature.

About Kim Fu:

Kim Fu is the author of two novels, a collection of poetry, and most recently, the story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, winner of the 2023 Pacific Northwest Book Award and a finalist for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Fu has been longlisted for the 2023 Joyce Carol Oates Prize for mid-career authors.

Fu’s first novel, For Today I Am a Boy, won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and the Canadian Authors Association Emerging Writer Award. It was also a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and the Lambda Literary Awards, as well as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. Her second novel, The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Awards and the Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award. Fu’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, Granta, the Atlantic, BOMB, Hazlitt, and the TLS.

Spokane Is Reading is a non-profit organization whose committee is formed in partnership with Auntie's Bookstore, Spokane Public Library, and Spokane County Library District. The majority of funding comes from Humanities WA and the Friends of the Public Libraries. Learn more on the Spokane Is Reading website.

By attending library programs, you are agreeing to potentially appear in photos/videos taken at our locations that may be used in promotional materials including social media.

We strive to make events welcoming for people of all abilities. To request accommodations (i.e. hearing assistance, ASL requests, or other ADA inquiries), call the library at 509-444-5340.

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