But The Girls by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu is a wry and razor-sharp coming-of-age novel about belonging, alienation, and the exquisite please and pain of girlhood. A young woman, Girl, is spending the spring at an artist’s residency in Scotland, far from her home in Australia and her close-knit Malaysian family. She’s supposed to be writing a postcolonial novel and working on her PhD on Sylvia Plath’s poetry. However, she finds herself constantly reflecting on her upbringing and the stories of her parents and grandmother who raised her. She struggles to reconcile their dreams for her with her own reality. Did Sylvia Plath face similar challenges? What exactly is a ‘postcolonial novel’? And what if becoming yourself isn’t about creating a new identity but understanding the people who shaped you?
About the Facilitator
Yumna Kassab will facilitate the conversation about Jessica Zhan Mei Yu book But The Girl.
Yumna Kassab is a writer from Western Sydney. She is the author of The House of Youssef, Australiana and the Lovers. Her latest book, Politica, is available from Ultimo Press. It is an imagined history of the Arab world of else a feminine telling of politics. Her books have been listed for The Stella, Miles Franklin Award, Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, QLD Literary Awards, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and NSW Premier’s Award. She is the inaugural Parramatta Laureate in Literature.
Event Details
When: Fri, 26 July – 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Where: ACE Parramatta, 8 Victoria Rd
This is a free event, but registrations are essential! Book your tickets today via the link below.
