Amy Tan and Deborah Tannen: Two Lives in Language (2014)

On April 16, 2014 at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation authors Amy Tan and Deborah Tannen spoke in Amy Tan and Deborah Tannen: Two Lives in Language for the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The two best-selling authors, who first met as grad students in linguistics, discussed how they both draw on conversation and storytelling to explore family relationships. A book signing and reception followed the event.

Amy Tan

Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life, and two children’s books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa, which has now been adapted as a PBS production. Her work has been translated into thirty-five languages. She lives with her husband in San Francisco and New York.

Deborah Tannen

Deborah Tannen is professor of linguistics at Georgetown University and author of many books, including three New York Times bestsellers. Her most recent is You Were Always Mom’s Favorite!: Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives.