Frances Cha’s riveting debut novel If I Had Your Face, depicts four young women making their way in a world defined by impossible standards of beauty, ruthless social hierarchies and K-pop mania. She speaks with Nancy Jooyoun Kim, author of The Last Story of Mina Lee, a Reese’s Book Club pick and New York Times bestseller. Her debut novel illustrates the devastating realities of being an immigrant in America, through the relationship between a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other.

They will be in conversation with comedian and writer Karen Chee, who will be speaking from South Korea. This is a free talk, held live online via Crowdcast; register and view here.

All authors appear for free and the best way to thank and support them is by buying their books! Frances’ and Nancy’s books are available from Festival partner Watchung Booksellers here.

Frances Cha is a former travel and culture editor for CNN in Seoul. She grew up in the United States, Hong Kong, and South Korea. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters. If I Had Your Face is her first novel.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nancy Jooyoun Kim is a graduate of UCLA and the University of Washington, Seattle. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica, NPR/PRI’s Selected Shorts, and elsewhere. The Last Story of Mina Lee is her first novel.

This event is part of Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival’s special series of author events, Global Voices. See all of the talks here.

Any proceeds from the festival benefit parent organization, Montclair-based non-profit Succeed2gether, which offers after-school one-on-one tutoring and enrichment classes with the aim of closing the education and opportunity gaps in Essex County, NJ. You can read more about Succeed2gether and the festival at www.succeed2gether.org.