Peter Hessler: Other Rivers—A Chinese Education

Peter Hessler, a foremost Western writer on China today, makes a special appearance at the Salem Athenaeum to discuss his latest book, Other Rivers: A Chinese Education.

In 2019, more than two decades after teaching English during the early part of China’s economic boom, Hessler returned to Sichuan Province to instruct students from the next generation. At the same time, Hessler and his wife enrolled their twin daughters in a local state-run elementary school, where they were the only Westerners. By also reconnecting with students he taught in the 1990s—members of China’s “Reform generation,” now in their forties—Hessler gained a unique perspective on China’s transformation. His experience resulted in his latest book, Other Rivers: A Chinese Education.

Originally from Columbia, MO, Peter Hessler has spent most of his writing life overseas. In 1996, he joined the Peace Corps, which sent him to southwestern China. For two years, he taught English and American literature at Fuling Teachers College, an experience that eventually became the subject of his first book, River Town (2001). It was followed by two others about the decade he lived in China (1996–2007): Oracle Bones, a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006, and Country Driving (2010).

Since 2000, Hessler has been a staff writer at the New Yorker, and he is also a contributing writer at National Geographic Magazine. Hessler won a National Magazine Award for “Instant Cities,” a two-year study of a new factory town in China’s Zhejiang province, which was published in National Geographic in 2007. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2011. Each of the books in his “China Trilogy” made the New York Times bestseller list. His latest book is Other Rivers: A Chinese Education. Read more about Peter Hessler.

Tickets: $20 General Admission | Free to Athenaeum members | Card to Culture

This is a hybrid event. Zoom link is sent the day of the program.

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This event is presented in partnership with Salem State University.