On We Heart It.

Koi in Winter

photo: Rautea Moeterauri Holozet

Drum at Siida Sámi Museum in Inari, Finland by saamiblog.

Deeply grateful to read at two events:

Seventeen Syllables and Friends reading at J-Sei, Sunday March 4 at 2 pm, with Jay Dayrit, Brian Komei Dempster, Caroline Kim-Brown, Mari L’Esperance, Grace Loh Prasad, Brynn Saito, and Marianne Villanueva. 1285 66th Street, Emeryville, California.

Ms Aligned 2: Women Writing About Men reading at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, Saturday March 10 at 3 pm, with Connie Pan, Allison Landa, and Sarah Kobrinsky.  2066 University Avenue, Berkeley, California.

photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan

Lillian, you spent seven years writing The Charm Buyers. What were your inspirations for writing this story?

My inspirations were the land and the people. Tahiti is incredibly beautiful, but there’s also such sadness in its history. I hoped to bring its recent history to life, particularly nuclear testing - but I didn’t want to write a polemic novel. I hope that The Charm Buyers brings the complexity, radiance, darkness, and hopefulness of its individuals to life.