Coffee & Conversation: ‘Yellowface’ by R.F. Kuang

Wednesday, September 10, 2025
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Authors Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars, but Athena is a literary darling while June is a nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls?, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse and steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece: an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song, complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserves to be told, whoever the teller is. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

Coffee and tea will be provided.

If you have any questions, please contact Natalie at ftprograms@cc-pl.org.  Please see all our program offerings in our online newsletter at https://www.cc-pl.org/connections.​

Carrico/Fort Thomas Branch