Lisa Lee Herrick in conversation with Courtney Maum
Beyond the Writing of Fiction Series
December 15, 2021
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Join us in celebrating the Hmong New Year with award-winning author and artist Lisa Lee Herrick to discuss food, family, and festivities. Find her essay about the best holiday chicken recipe at Food52; she writes about her mother and aunt:
“English words blunted their tongues while Hmong words soured on mine; food was a door remained ajar despite indefinite silences.”
As an author of multiple books in different genres, the writer and book coach Courtney Maum is thrilled to host guests like Lisa from across the literary stratosphere on The Mount's new monthly "Beyond the Writing of Fiction" craft series. From self-published authors to screenwriters, mystery writers and memoir writers and many other kinds, the breadth and diversity of the interviewees will celebrate Edith Wharton's own affection for various forms of writing while focusing on the elusive but essential tool of craft.
Flat Lay: 2021 Lisa Lee Herrick
The Mount is a Massachusetts Cultural Council UP designated organization welcoming participants of all disabilities. Please contact The Mount at 413-551-5100 or by email, info@edithwharton.org, to discuss accommodations needed to participate fully in this event.
- Free online program.
- Monthly discussion--October 2021 through June 2022.
- On January 18, in celebration of Wharton's birthday month, Courtney chats with screenwriter/director Vanya Rose.
- Dr Rebecca Hall discusses her memoir/graphic novel--Wake, in February.
Lisa Lee Herrick is the daughter of Hmong refugees, and she is an award-winning Hmong-American writer, illustrator, and producer based in California. Her creative nonfiction is honored in the Best American Essays (2020; 2021) and Best American Food Writing 2020. In 2019, she was selected for a Writing X Writers fellowship at the Esalen Institute in California and named a finalist for the Paper Darts Short Fiction Prize. The following year, she was a finalist for the 2020 Ploughshares Emerging Writers’ Contest and longlisted for the Creative Capital Award. In May 2021, Lisa is a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, paired with best-selling Hmong American writer Kao Kalia Yang as her mentor. She is a finalist for the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing 2021 in September. Working on her debut book—a memoir in essays—Lisa’s publishing projects examining issues in contemporary Hmong in the diaspora. She co-founded Fresno’s LitHop literary arts festival after a decade of working in journalism and television and currently serves as Editor-at-Large for Hyphen magazine. She is also a regular contributor to The Rumpus, Emergence Magazine, and advises nonprofit arts & public broadcasting organizations in media strategy and community outreach. She has a B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Davis, where her first published personal essay is permanently archived in the Department of English’s Prized Writing catalog. Twitter: @lisaleeherrick
Author Photo: 2021 Beowulf Sheehan
Courtney Maum is the author of the novels Costalegre (a GOOP book club pick and one of Glamour Magazine’s top books of the decade), I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and Touch (a New York Times Editor’s Choice and NPR Best Book of the Year selection), the popular guidebook Before and After the Book Deal: A writer’s guide to finishing, publishing, promoting, and surviving your first book, and the forthcoming memoir, The Year of the Horses. A nominee for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, Courtney’s writing has been widely published in such outlets as the New York Times, and O, the Oprah Magazine, and her short story This is Not Your Fault was turned into an Audible Original at Amazon. Courtney is the founder of the artist residency, The Cabins and she privately coaches writers on how to preserve the mystery and joy of the creative process in a culture that wants artists to become brands. You can sign up for her newsletter at CourtneyMaum.com