About this Event
This event is co-presented with the Asian American Writers' Workshop. For more information, please visit their website at aaww.org.
Join us for an in-person event with San Franciscan attorney and Cartoonist-in-Residence, Eddie Ahn, for a discussion of his debut graphic memoir Advocate: A Graphic Memoir of Family, Community, and the Fight for Environmental Justice. Joining Eddie in conversation is critically acclaimed writer Kristen Radtke. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.
Can’t make the event?
STRAND IN-PERSON EVENT COVID-19 POLICY:
Masks and vaccination checks are not required for entry.
Attendees are welcome to wear a mask if they choose. If you do not have a mask and would like one, The Strand will provide masks at the door.
Please note this is subject to change any time before or during the event per the author’s request.
ACCESSIBILITY:
Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator.
ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at [email protected] by April 10th to request.
Please ask a Strand employee upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.
For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A moving graphic memoir following Eddie Ahn, an environmental justice lawyer and activist striving to serve diverse communities in San Francisco amidst environmental catastrophes, an accelerating tide of racial and economic inequality, burnout, and his family’s expectations.
Born in Texas to Korean immigrants, Eddie grew up working at his family’s store with the weighty expectations that their sacrifices would be paid off when he achieved the “American Dream.” Years later after moving to San Francisco and earning a coveted law degree, he then does the unthinkable: he rejects a lucrative legal career to enter the nonprofit world.
In carving his own path, Eddie defies his family’s notions of economic success, igniting a struggle between family expectations, professional goals, and dreams of community. As an environmental justice attorney, he confronts the most immediate issues the country is facing today, from the devastating effects of California wildfires to economic inequality, all while combating burnout and racial prejudice. In coming fully into his own, Eddie also reaches a hand back to his parents, showing them the value of a life of service rather than one spent only seeking monetary wealth.
Weaving together humorous anecdotes with moments of victory and hope, this powerful, deeply contemplative full-color graphic novel explores the relationship between immigration and activism, opportunity and obligation, and familial duty and community service.
The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) is devoted to creating, publishing, developing and disseminating creative writing by Asian Americans, and to providing an alternative literary arts space at the intersection of migration, race, and social justice. Since their founding in 1991, they have been dedicated to the belief that Asian American stories deserve to be told. At a time when migrants, women, people of color, Muslims, and LGBTQ people are specifically targeted, we offer a new countercultural public space in which to imagine a more just future. For more information about the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, please visit their website at aaww.org.
Eddie Ahn has been an environmental justice attorney and nonprofit worker for fifteen years. While working as the executive director of Brightline Defense, a San Francisco– based environmental justice nonprofit, he was inducted into the State of California’s Clean Energy Hall of Fame for his work in equity and clean energy. In addition to his nonprofit work, he has served as president of the San Francisco Commission on the Environment as well as a commissioner on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Conservation and Development Commission. He is a self-taught artist who has been recognized as a Cartoonist-in-Residence by the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. Advocate is his debut book.
Kristen Radtke is the author of Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness (2021) and Imagine Wanting Only This (2017).
She is the creative director of The Verge. The recipient of a Whiting Creative Nonfiction grant, her work has been nominated for a PEN/Jean Stein Award, an Eisner Award, the Kirkus Prize, the Andrew Carnegie Metal, and numerous National Magazine Awards. Her comics and writing have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Marie Claire, The Atlantic, Elle, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and many other places.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway, New York, United States
USD 10.00 to USD 24.99