Join us for The Lives and Stories of Korean American Authors, a special children’s literature K-Culture Talk celebrating Korean-heritage author experiences for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, featuring Ginger Park and Frances Park, co-authors of Suka’s Farm!

Ginger Park and Frances Park will share their experiences growing up Korean-American and how it informed their journey to becoming successful authors. They will also discuss the real-life story behind their enchanting new children's book, Suka's Farm. Families are encouraged to attend, and those with a child will receive a complimentary copy of Suka’s Farm to have signed and to take home, but quantities are limited. Suka's Fark and the authors' other books will also be on display at the event.

This event also celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, observed every May to honor the contributions of Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants to the United States. To mark the occasion, the authors’ will share insights into their personal journeys and perspectives, discuss their writing process and key themes of their new book, and read excerpts. Visitors can also have their books signed after the program (books will not be for sale at the event, so visitors may bring their own copy).

The Lives and Stories of Korean-American Authors
May 21, 2025 (Wednesday), 5:00 - 6:30 PM
Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C.

Free copy of Suka's Farm for attendees with children (while supplies last)! 

RSVP FOR THIS EVENT!

About the Authors

Ginger Park and Frances Park are Korean American sisters who have written seventeen books between them, published in six countries. Their work often reflects their Korean heritage. Awards for their co-authored children’s books include the IRA Children’s Book Award, The Jean B. Sugarman Award, the Paterson Book Award for Young Readers, and the Bank Street Book Award. They’ve presented at The Smithsonian, The Korean Embassy, The Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, The New Executive Office Building, American University, Virginia Tech, GMU, and schools across the DC area. Interviews include NPR, CNN, Good Morning America, Radio Free Asia, and Voice of America. Their newest picture book Suka’s Farm was recently featured by Jummy Olabanji on NBCWashington’s 4 Your Reading. Later this year, their children’s story My Sister’s Doljabi will be published. 

For more, visit the authors' website at www.parksisters.com.

Ginger Park was an energetic gymnast as a child. After her father's sudden passing two days before her seventeenth birthday, however, she realized how little she knew about her parents' lives and struggles in Korea. Determined to learn more, she spent months going through old photos with her mother and hearing stories of their homeland. This process of discovery led her to document her family's history, from Sinuiju to Seoul. It was through this journey that she began her writing career, uncovering both her family’s past and her own voice as a writer. For her award-winning work, Ginger has been interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered and Weekend Edition, featured in USA Today, the Washington Post, and Koream. Her work has been translated into five languages.

Ginger’s young adult novel The Hundred Choices Department Store was featured on NPR's All Things Considered. Accolades include Best of Korea’s Round Up of 2022’s Best Books by Korean American authors, the U.S. Courts and Federal Judiciary's 2024 AAPI Heritage Month book selection, National Women's History Alliance "Book of the Week", and Book Riot’s “Best Fiction set in Korea” for Adults and Children. The story was inspired by her mother's family who endured the post-World War II Russian invasion of their country, and their ultimate flight south before the outbreak of the Korean War. The book, recently published in South Korea, is a Kyobo Bookstore “MD’s Recommendation”, and has earned placement on five academic reading lists as well.

Frances Park is a Korean American author of novels, memoirs and children’s books. At age 10, she typed a 200-page story on an Underwood typewriter—blue ink, onionskin paper, reading aloud to anyone who would listen. Since then, she’s spoken at The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian, The New Executive Office Building, Wolf Trap, and the Korean Embassy. For her award-winning work, she’s been interviewed by NPR, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, CNN, The Diane Rehm Show, and Good Morning America.

Frances’ adult work reflects an identity born of two worlds. Her recent novel Blue Rice – portraying a Korean woman’s acclimation to white America in 1960 – is a Pushcart Prize nominee as well as a finalist in the 2024 Foreword Indies Awards for Multicultural Fiction. Her novel The Summer My Sister Was Cleopatra Moon received glowing reviews by The Times Literary Supplement, The Washington Post, and USA Today. Her essay collection That Lonely Spell was praised by Kirkus as “a fresh take on the Korean American memoir by a writer from a generation whose voice has seldom been heard”; one story earned a Notable in Best American Essays 2017. Her award-winning short stories and personal essays have appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, The Massachusetts Review, The Columbia Journal, The London Magazine, Folio, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Chicago Quarterly, and dozens more. Penguin Random House SEA will be publishing her next novel Ahn Love in 2026.

About Suka’s Farm

Life in 1941 Korea is hard for Aoki and his family. Under colonial rule, many of the country’s resources are being exported to Japan. One night, as Aoki’s hunger keeps him awake, he hears his parents worrying about their dwindling rice supply. Though he’s only a child, Aoki is desperate to help—so desperate that he asks Mr. Suka, a Japanese farmer, for a job. Mr. Suka’s first instinct is to turn the boy away, but he is moved by Aoki’s plea. He teaches Aoki how to care for a herd of goats, and soon what began as an act of charity becomes a genuine friendship that brings them both joy.