4-Week: Craft Lessons From Hua Hsu’s Stay True

Hua Hsu won the Pulitzer Prize for his stunning memoir, Stay True, a deeply compelling story about identity, friendship, and loss. Hsu writes about growing up in California in the 1990s as the son of Taiwanese immigrants, and the friendship he developed in college with Ken, an affable Japanese-American student. He and Ken ultimately bonded over their differing versions of what it meant to be Asian-American. One night, in a shocking turn, Ken was murdered, shortly after he and Hsu parted ways. In the aftermath of that crime, Hsu grappled with searing feelings of guilt and loss, imagining that if the evening had played out differently, perhaps Ken would still be alive. He writes with ruthless honesty, poetic flair, and a keen eye for telling detail. Participants in the class will spend significant time doing close readings of the text followed by writing exercises based on Hsu’s work.