The Rock Island and Moline Public Libraries present “An Evening with Michelle Zauner" -- May 18.

Wednesday, May 18, 7 p.m.

Presented by the Rock Island and Moline Public Libraries

A gifted musician and noted author discusses her music career and beloved bestseller Crying in H Mart: A Memoir when the Rock Island and Moline Public Libraries present An Evening with Michelle Zauner, a virtual May 18 program that allows participants an audience with the talented writer and Grammy-nominated singer/guitarist who creates blazing indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1989, Zauner's first release as Japanese Breakfast was 2013's June, her musical outfit the result of a project in which she and Rachel Gagliardi recorded and posted one song every day for the month of June. In April of 2016, Japanese Breakfast released its first studio album Psychopomp and shortly afterward signed to Dead Oceans, and the following year, Zauner's outfit released its second studio album Soft Sounds from Another Planet. Japanese Breakfast's third studio album Jubilee, meanwhile, was released by Dead Oceans in June of 2021, the same year that Zauner wrote the soundtrack for the video game Sable.

As an author, in 2016, Zauner won the 11th edition of the Glamour magazine essay contest with her essay "Real Life: Love, Loss, and Kimchi," which focused on her experiences with her mother's cancer diagnosis and death, as well as the bond she and her mother shared over Korean food. Two years later, an essay by Zauner was published in The New Yorker titled "Crying in H-Mart." The essay was similar in subject matter to the Glamour essay, and was followed by 2021's Harper's Bazaar piece "#Forgiveness," which detailed Zauner's experiences with her father, whom she became estranged from after the death of her mother. On April 20 of 2021, Zauner released an expansion of her New Yorker essay with her first book Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, which debuted at number two on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list and was praised by NPR as "rare acknowledgment of the ravages of cancer in a culture obsessed with seeing it as an enemy that can be battled with hope and strength." Not long after the book's publication, Orion Pictures announced they would adapt Crying in H Mart into a feature film, and as part of the deal, Zauner is to help adapt the film and supervise its soundtrack.

An Evening with Michelle Zauner will be presented virtually on May 18, participation in the 7 p.m. event is free, and more information is available by calling (309)732-7323 and visiting RockIslandLibrary.org, or calling (309)524-2470 and visiting MolineLibtrary.com.

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