Thi Bui, the author of the Book in Common, is visiting Chico State this Wednesday, and will be speaking in Laxson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Get your tickets today(opens in new window) (free for students!). Wednesday evening’s lecture by Bui is an event that you don’t want to miss. According to The Santa Barbara Independent, “on stage, it was apparent that cartoonist Thi Bui felt at home.”
Bui explains that she “was born in Vietnam and came to the United States in 1978 as part of the ‘boat people’ wave of refugees fleeing Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War.” Bui writes that using a graphic novel format allows her to “present history in a way that is human and relatable and not oversimplified” and centers the relationships between “parents and children.”
In Bui’s exploration of “our journey in reverse,” “over the ocean,” and “through the war” to find an “origin story that will set everything right,” she ultimately understands that “maybe being their child simply means that I will also feel the weight of their past” (pages 39–41 and 325).
In addition to The Best We Could Do, Bui illustrated the picture book, A Different Pond, written by the poet Bao Phi (Capstone, 2017), for which she won a Caldecott Honor. With her son, Hien, she co-illustrated the children’s book, Chicken of the Sea (McSweeney’s, 2019), written by Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen and his son, Ellison. Her short comics can be found online at The Nib, PEN America, and BOOM California. She is currently researching and drawing a work of graphic nonfiction about immigrant detention and deportation, to be published by One World, Random House.
Meanings of Home
A Gallery in the Arts and Humanities Building from April 4–14
During this year’s Community Read Challenge, students, staff, and faculty read The Best We Could Do, participated in a discussion group, and over 75 members of our campus community submitted art for the Meanings of Home art exhibition to coincide with Bui’s visit to campus.
Bui’s The Best We Could Do offers a beautiful and powerful exploration of the meanings of “home” for different generations of her family. Using a template folded into the shape of a home, students, staff, faculty, and community members created art that captured their experience with the meanings of home, community, and identity. Make sure to visit the A Gallery to experience this community art exhibition.
Book in Common selection for 2023–2024
Since 2000, the Book in Common program has chosen an annual book as a shared community read, designed to promote discussion and understanding of important issues facing the broader community in partnership with Butte College and the City of Chico.
President Hutchinson will announce next year’s Book in Common during her welcome remarks before Thi Bui’s lecture on April 5, with a campus email to follow.