“If Hmong tears could reincarnate, we would rain the world with our sorrow.”
Kao Kalia Yang spent her early years listening to the stories of her Hmong family in a Thai refugee camp. At six years old, her family immigrated to the United States. Her family had little to give, but they gave her stories.
“When there is nothing in the hands, you can still offer what is in the heart through your words.”
Overcoming the childhood challenge of being a selective mute, she graduated Carleton College and Columbia University’s School of the Arts to find her voice in the written word. With her books and her talks, she now gives voice to her people–the stories swept under the rug of history, the stories of the Hmong. Her words inspire and open the heart.
Watch “The Power in Sharing our Stories” by Kao Kalia Yang
Books by Kao Kalia Yang
