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Book in Common Author Speaks

Anne Fadiman is the author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997), this year’s Book in Common at CSU, Chico. The book chronicles the trials of an epileptic Hmong child and her family living in Merced, California. Fadiman’s treatment of the gulf between the Hmong and American medical systems won her a 1997 National Book Critic’s Circle Award.

Fadiman provides readers with a vivid, detailed history of the Hmong in Laos from their involvement in the Vietnam War to their struggles in America. The story revolves around Lia Lee who, at the age of three months, suffers from progressive and more frequent and intense epileptic seizures—occurrences that her parents called qaug dab peg, meaning “the spirit catches you and you fall down.”

Fadiman will speak on Oct. 16 at 7:30 pm in Laxson Auditorium. Her visit is sponsored by the Office of the Provost at CSU, Chico. Tickets are available at the University Box Office.