Howan and Lawton to discuss literary and environmental issues on Sept. 18

Howan's novel, “The Charm Buyers,” was written against the background of France's nuclear testing on Mururoa (1966–1996).|

The Sonoma Valley Library will host novelist Lillian Howan and local author Becca Lawton for a book discussion and conversation at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18. Howan and Lawton will discuss danger, loss and renewal – both literary and environmental – and share photographs of Tahiti and the South Pacific.

Howan’s novel, “The Charm Buyers,” was written against the background of France’s nuclear testing on the island of Mururoa (1966–1996). It tells the tale of Hakka Chinese and mixed-heritage individuals in Tahiti struggling to maintain privileged lifestyles as well as their mutual obligations.

“What makes the novel most worthwhile is its examination of a tightly knit community’s unraveling, caused partly by the obsessions of its restless characters, and partly a result of events beyond their control,” said Vilsoni Hereniko, professor, playwright and filmmaker.

Howan spent her early childhood in Tahiti and later graduated from Berkeley School of Law.

Her writings have been published in the Asian American Literary Review, Café Irreal, Calyx, New England Review, and the anthology “Under Western Eyes.” She is the editor of Wakako Yamauchi’s collection, “Rosebud and Other Stories.”

Rebecca Lawton is a Sonoma-based scientist and writer.

Her writings have been featured in Aeon, Brevity, Hakai, Hunger Mountain, More, Orion, The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, Shenandoah, Sierra, THEMA, and she has authored eight books, both fiction and non-fiction. Lawton won a Fulbright Visiting Research Chair, the Ellen Meloy Fund Award for Desert Writers, the Waterston Desert Writing Prize and Pushcart Prize nominations in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Copies of “The Charm Buyers” will be available to purchase at the library event on Sept. 18.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.