SLCL and the Very Asian Foundation Present Acclaimed Novelist Rachel Khong

St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Favorite Author Series, Left Bank Books, and The Very Asian Foundation present acclaimed novelist Rachel Khong for a discussion and signing of “Real Americans.”

The event will take place on Monday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m. at the Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson Rd., Ellisville, MO, 63011.

Rachel Khong will be in conversation with Michelle Li, KSDK TV News Anchor and co-founder of The Very Asian Foundation. 

The program is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event from Left Bank Books. 

From the award-winning author of “Goodbye, Vitamin”: How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?

“Real Americans” begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when 22-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn’t be more different: flat-broke, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

In 2021, 15-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can’t shake the sense she’s hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than it provides answers.

In moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.

Rachel Khong is the author of “Goodbye,Vitamin,” winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction, and names a Best Book of the Year by NPR; O, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and Esquire. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and The Paris Review. 

The SLCL event Rachel Khong is presented in partnership with The Very Asian Foundation in celebration of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The Very Asian Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to shining a light on Asian experiences through advocacy and celebration.

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.