LOCAL>> Celebrating the Publication of Anthony Veasna So's Afterparties: A Tribute Panel

Panelists include: Bryan Washington, Monica Sok, and Mira Jacob

Moderated by Alex Torres

Excerpt of Afterparties read by Anthony Veasna So’s sister, Samantha So Lamb

A vibrant story collection about Cambodian-American life—immersive and comic, yet unsparing—that offers profound insight into the intimacy of queer and immigrant communities.

Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tenderhearted, balancing acerbic humor with sharp emotional depth, Afterparties offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California, they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race, sexuality, friendship, and family.

The stories in Afterparties, “powered by So’s skill with the telling detail, are like beams of wry, affectionate light, falling from different directions on a complicated, struggling, beloved American community” (George Saunders).