Angeline Boulley and Trang Thanh Tran

Angeline Boulley and Trang Thanh Tran

August 31, 2023 at 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm UTC-4

PBS Books, in collaboration with Kansas City PBS and KERA in Dallas, Texas, interviews Angeline Boulley followed by Trang Thanh Tran.   

Also available on Facebook and Youtube.

Explore the 2023 Library of Congress National Book Festival Virtual Author Talks

About “Warrior Girl Unearthed”

Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always known who she is – the laidback twin, the troublemaker, the best fisher on Sugar Island. Her aspirations won’t ever take her far from home, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. But as the rising number of missing Indigenous women starts circling closer to home, as her family becomes embroiled in a high-profile murder investigation, and as greedy grave robbers seek to profit off of what belongs to her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry begins to question everything.
In order to reclaim this inheritance for her people, Perry has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She can only count on her friends and allies, including her overachieving twin and a charming new boy in town with unwavering morals. Old rivalries, sister secrets, and botched heists cannot – will not – stop her from uncovering the mystery before the ancestors and missing women are lost forever.

About “She Is a Haunting”

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She’s always lied to fit in, so if she’s straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised.

But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound, while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don’t belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can’t ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves her cryptic warnings: Don’t eat.
Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe that there is anything strange happening. With help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove this house—the home her family has always wanted—will not rest until it destroys them. Maybe, this time, she can keep her family together. As she roots out the house’s rot, she must also face the truth of who she is and who she must become to save them all.

About Angeline Boulley

Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She is a former director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Boulley lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island, Michigan. Her debut novel, “Firekeeper’s Daughter,” received many awards, including a Michael L. Printz Award, William C. Morris Award, Walter Dean Myers Award and an American Indian Youth Literature Honor. Her newest release, “Warrior Girl Unearthed,” will be featured at the 2023 National Book Festival.

About Trang Thanh Tran

Trang Thanh Tran is a Vietnamese-American author who writes emotional, speculative stories that highlight food, belonging and the Vietnamese diaspora. They’re an alum of the Writing Barn’s Rainbow Weekend and Tin House’s Young Adult Fiction Workshop. When not writing, they are busy trying new food and watching zombie movies. Tran’s debut novel, “She Is a Haunting,” will be featured at the 2023 National Book Festival.

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