Fountain Street Church (Grand Rapids, MI)
07/11/23
Head of indie-pop band, Japanese Breakfast, and author of New York Times best-selling memoir, Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner stopped at Grand Rapids’ Fountain Street Church in between concerts to discuss her book and meet fans.
Starting with a discussion and question and answer session, Zauner spoke with the Grand Rapids Public Library about her memoir, her music, her future, and more. She openly expressed her struggles and the grief she went through before, during, and after the loss of her mother and how she continues to use food as a way to connect with her. One of my personal favorite points from the discussion is when Zauner discussed that even though our loved ones are physically gone, they continue to live on in a multitude of other ways.
Zauner also revealed that in order to further connect with her Korean identity, she will be moving to Seoul, South Korea in 2024 with her partner and bandmate, Peter Bradley. She plans to write, eat, and experience Korea in a much more personal manner than ever before.
The sold-out crowd then lined up to have books and records signed by Zauner. Despite there being over seven hundred and fifty people in attendance, Zauner gave every person the same amount of attention and emotion as the last. She listened to their glowing reviews of her words, their experiences of reading her memoir, and even shared tears with those who related more closely to Zauner and what she went through. Truly the kindest artist and author I’ve met, Zauner clearly made an impact on every single person who came out to her signing.
Crying in H Mart explores and connects family, food, grief, and love. When Michelle Zauner was in her mid-twenties, working as a waitress and struggling to launch her music career in Philadelphia, she got a call that her mother was ill. She put her life on hold and flew home to Eugene, Oregon, to be with her mother through the final, excruciating months of her battle with cancer. This is Zauner’s searingly candid coming-of-age story – of growing apart from and then back together with her Korean identity and of forging her own path in the wake of a devastating loss. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up Asian-American, straining to meet her mother’s expectations, moving across the country, and returning home to reckon with grief. She recalls treasured childhood holidays spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul and – now in adulthood – learning to cook the Korean dishes that revive and nourish those memories. She savors the unexpected solace of weekly trips to her favorite Asian grocery store. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Crying in H Mart is an exquisite debut – a book to cherish, share, and reread.
Now available in hardcover, paperback, and audiobook, Crying in H Mart is available everywhere.
