photo by lan le
Coinciding with May’s AAPI Heritage Month:
We are excited to have Chenxing Han back (& in-person) at A2Z to share with us her new book, one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care just out on April 11, 2023, with the independent nonprofit publisher North Atlantic Books.
This event is part of A2Z’s regular Monday night Meditation Group. We begin at 7pm PT with a meditation. After that, the format will be up to Chenxing.
While Chenxing will be with us in-person, this is a hybrid event. Full info, including Zoom link is HERE.
From Chenxing, about the book:
I began this book nearly a decade ago, at the start of a yearlong residency in hospital chaplaincy on an oncology unit in Oakland, California, when my college friend Ally Stewart suggested that I write about the experience. Two years later, my dear friend and former college roommate, Amy Frohnmayer Winn, died on an oncology ward in Portland, Oregon, due to complications from Fanconi anemia, the rare genetic disease that she lived with for 29 years (and that claimed the lives of her two older sisters). For those of you who had the blessing of knowing Amy, you will know why one long listening is dedicated to her. I hope the book does justice to her radiant spirit.
one long listening is the most personal work I've ever written, and also the most experimental. You can get a sense of the multiple strands that make up the book here. I think of this memoir as a multilingual love letter to the patients, family, staff, and spiritual care team at the hospital where I served for that life-changing year—as well as a love letter to my family and ancestors; to Amy; to grief itself.
It is also a love letter to the places (Shanghai, Pittsburgh, Bothell/Kenmore, Berkeley/Oakland, Phnom Penh, Bangkok) and languages (Shanghainese, Mandarin, Khmer, Thai, Japanese) that have formed me. I first encountered Buddhist chaplaincy under the tutelage of Rev. Beth Goldring and the Cambodian staff of Brahmavihara, a nonprofit in Phnom Penh. Buddhist chant for the end of life was an indispensable part of their spiritual care. My partner Trent Walker's recent book, Until Nirvana's Time: Buddhist Songs from Cambodia, ferries these chants to English speakers in the Cambodian diaspora and beyond. Until Nirvana’s Time and my first book, Be the Refuge, are older cousins to one long listening. All three books emerge from the need to honor our dead, to mourn our losses, to gladden our spirits.
A recent Gallup study found that 1 in 4 Americans has been served by a chaplain. I hope one long listening can play a part in collective efforts to diversify the broad and essential field of spiritual care. My Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) supervisors gave me the courage to write: "Chaplaincy needs writers too," they said. I hope this book does justice to the fierce wisdom that Carrie Buckner, Va' Nechia Rayford, and LaVera Crawley have imparted to me and many other CPE students.
Order the paperback, ebook, or audiobook (narrated by me, with cameos from my parents!) from your local bookstore / Amazon / direct from the publisher / your favorite bookseller. Thank you to those who've already pre-ordered!
BIO: Chenxing Han is the author of the widely reviewed Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists, and the recently released one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care, both with North Atlantic Books. She is a regular contributor to Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and other publications, and a frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities across the nation. She has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, Hemera Foundation, the Lenz Foundation, and elsewhere.
Chenxing holds a BA from Stanford University, an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, and a certificate in Buddhist chaplaincy from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. She is a co-teacher of Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard at Phillips Academy Andover, and a co-organizer of May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors.
