The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host a discussion of the novel To Swim Across the World by Frances Park & Ginger Park on February 18. An overview of the reading group:
This reading group for educators explores literary texts from a global perspective. Content specialists present the work and its context, and together we brainstorm innovative pedagogical practices for incorporating the text and its themes into the curriculum. Sessions this year will take place virtually on Thursday evenings from 5-7:30 PM. Books and Act 48 credit are provided.And a synopsis of the book, from the authors' website:
Adult/YA: To Swim Across the World is inspired by the lives of the authors’ parents. Frances Park and Ginger Park’s deeply affecting novel is based on the true story of a boy and a girl from opposite ends of the Korean peninsula who endure the Japanese Occupation, the division of their country, and, ultimately, the Korean War.The discussion will take place on Zoom from 5:00 to 7:30 pm and advance registration is required.
It is 1941, and Japan occupies Korea. For Sei-Young Shin, a young man from a poor family in the rural south, it is a time of oppression. Life is gentler for Heisook Pang, the daughter of a prominent minister in a northern city. In the aftermath of World War II, the power of Communism grows in the north and Heisook’s future is in peril. She makes a daring escape, slipping into the south where she meets Sei-Young, an encounter that will bond them for life.
History and its changes influence Sei-Young and Heisook in different ways, but their stories share sacrifice, tragedy, and love. Precisely and beautifully written, To Swim Across the World is a moving vision of a country’s terrible and recent past, and an intimate account of the interlocking of two lives, and two destinies.