Fiction Shortlist
Bury What We Cannot Take
The day San San and her brother Ah Liam’s lives are forever changed is the day they discover their grandmother taking a hammer to Chairman Mao’s portrait. Believing he is doing right by proving his loyalty to the Party, Ah Liam reports his grandmother, setting in motion a terrible chain of events.
Against the backdrop of early Maoist China, this captivating tale follows a family as they grapple with the far-reaching consequences of their decisions and their hope for redemption.
Author
Kirstin Chen
Kirstin Chen is the bestselling author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners. She has received awards from the Steinbeck Fellows Program, Sewanee, Hedgebrook, and the Napa Valley Writers' Conference. Her writing appears in Real Simple, Literary Hub, Writer’s Digest, Manrepeller, and Zyzzyva. Born and raised in Singapore, she currently lives in San Francisco. She teaches creative writing at the University of San Francisco and at Ashland University.