KUOW Book Club's March pick: Putsata Reang's award-winning memoir

The KUOW Book Club is reading "Ma and Me" by Putsata Reang this month.

Reang's family fled war-torn Cambodia when she was just an infant. She seemed lifeless in her mother's arms as they boarded an overcrowded navy vessel, bound for sanctuary. The captain of that ship ordered her mother to throw her overboard, but Ma refused. Reang survived the journey to an American naval base in the Philippines, where military nurses and doctors saved her life.

Just 11 months old at the time, Reang appeared to be lifeless in the arms of her mother, who held onto her child nonetheless. In the years that followed, Reang sought to make her mother proud. But at what cost to herself?

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In this incredible memoir, Reang explores her inherited trauma and the expectations foisted upon her. "Ma and Me" won the Pacific Northwest Book Award for Nonfiction in 2023. It was also a finalist for a Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Lambda Literary Prize.

Here's the reading schedule:

• Read through Part II (America) by March 17.
• Finish the book by March 28.

Reang has kindly signed on for an interview at the end of our reading. We're working out details, so look out for more on that later this month. As per usual, I’ll send out a newsletter at the halfway point and when we finish the book.

Subscribe to the book club newsletter here and join the conversation by emailing me directly at kcampbell@kuow.org.

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Spoiler alert: In case you missed it, the KUOW Book Club partnered with Seattle Public Library for this year's Seattle Reads.

RELATED: Seattle Reads + KUOW Book Club: Celebrating National Poetry Month with local voices

That means we'll be reading "You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World" in April. "You Are Here" is a poetry anthology that was edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. The collection features 50 American poets who were invited "to observe and reflect on their local landscape." Among them are Seattle-area poets Laura Da' and Cedar Sigo.

We'll have more information about the reading schedule and live interview/poetry reading later this month.