Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

The song poet : a memoir of my father / Kao Kalia Yang.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2016Copyright date: ©2016Edition: First EditionDescription: xi, 271 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781627794947
  • 1627794948
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Album notes -- Side A: Birth of a song poet -- Bee Yang -- Track 1: Birth of a song poet -- Track 2: A fatherless boyhood -- Track 3: Brothers and sisters -- Track 4: Love song -- Track 5: Cry of machines -- Side B: Song for my children: Kao Kalia Yang -- Track 6: Doctors and lawyers -- Track 7: The son must rise -- Track 8: Song of separation -- Track 9: Dreams and nightmares -- Track 10: Return to Laos (Duet) -- Album notes.
Scope and content: "From the author of The Latehomecomer, a powerful memoir of her father, a Hmong song poet who sacrificed his gift for his children's future in America. In the Hmong tradition, the song poet recounts the story of his people, their history and tragedies, joys and losses; extemporizing or drawing on folk tales, he keeps the past alive, invokes the spirits and the homeland, and records courtships, births, weddings, and wishes. Following her award-winning book The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang now retells the life of her father Bee Yang, the song poet, a Hmong refugee in Minnesota, driven from the mountains of Laos by American's Secret War. Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night until, one day, a song was born. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. But the songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a Minneapolis housing project and on the factory floor until, with the death of Bee's mother, the songs leave him for good. But before they do, Bee, with his poetry, has polished a life of poverty for his children, burnished their grim reality so that they might shine. Written with the exquisite beauty for which Kao Kalia Yang is renowned, The Song Poet is a love story--of a daughter for her father, a father for his children, a people for their land, their traditions, and all that they have lost"-- Provided by publisher.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Yang, B. Y22 Available 33111008408607
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD AND THE MINNESOTA BOOK AWARD

In the Hmong tradition, the song poet recounts the story of his people, their history and tragedies, joys and losses. He keeps the past alive, invokes the spirits and the homeland, and records courtships, births, weddings, and wishes.

Following her award-winning memoir The Latehomecomer , Kao Kalia Yang now retells the life of her father, Bee Yang, the song poet--a Hmong refugee in Minnesota, driven from the mountains of Laos by America's Secret War. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. The songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a St. Paul housing project and on the factory floor, until, with the death of Bee's mother, they leave him for good. But before they do, Bee, with his poetry, has burnished a life of poverty for his children, polishing their grim reality so that they might shine.

Album notes -- Side A: Birth of a song poet -- Bee Yang -- Track 1: Birth of a song poet -- Track 2: A fatherless boyhood -- Track 3: Brothers and sisters -- Track 4: Love song -- Track 5: Cry of machines -- Side B: Song for my children: Kao Kalia Yang -- Track 6: Doctors and lawyers -- Track 7: The son must rise -- Track 8: Song of separation -- Track 9: Dreams and nightmares -- Track 10: Return to Laos (Duet) -- Album notes.

"From the author of The Latehomecomer, a powerful memoir of her father, a Hmong song poet who sacrificed his gift for his children's future in America. In the Hmong tradition, the song poet recounts the story of his people, their history and tragedies, joys and losses; extemporizing or drawing on folk tales, he keeps the past alive, invokes the spirits and the homeland, and records courtships, births, weddings, and wishes. Following her award-winning book The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang now retells the life of her father Bee Yang, the song poet, a Hmong refugee in Minnesota, driven from the mountains of Laos by American's Secret War. Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night until, one day, a song was born. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. But the songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a Minneapolis housing project and on the factory floor until, with the death of Bee's mother, the songs leave him for good. But before they do, Bee, with his poetry, has polished a life of poverty for his children, burnished their grim reality so that they might shine. Written with the exquisite beauty for which Kao Kalia Yang is renowned, The Song Poet is a love story--of a daughter for her father, a father for his children, a people for their land, their traditions, and all that they have lost"-- Provided by publisher.

Powered by Koha