About this item
Paula Yoo's latest is a compelling, nuanced account of Los Angeles's 1992 uprising and its impact on its Korean and Black American communities.On April 29, 1992, following the acquittal of four police officers charged with the beating and arrest of Rodney King and the earlier killing of teenager Latasha Harlins, the city of Los Angeles erupted in violence. Many of these events were centered on the city's Koreatown, where tensions between the Black and Korean American communities had simmered for years, fueled by economic challenges and redlining and enflamed by sensationalized and racist media. Based on more than 100 personal interviews, Rising from the Ashes follows these events through the eyes and experiences of the families of King, Harlins, shooting victim Edward Jae Song Lee, and dozens of business owners, journalists, police officers, firefighters, activists, and other community members.
About the Author
Paula Yoo is an author, screenwriter, and musician. Her latest YA non-fiction book, FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: THE KILLING OF VINCENT CHIN AND THE TRIAL THAT GALVANIZED THE ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT (Norton Young Readers/W.W. Norton & Co. Publication Date: April 20, 2021) , was selected for the 2021 National Book Award Longlist: Young People's Literature and won the 2021 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction. Her book is a 2021 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and the May 2022 YA book selection for the National Education Association (NEA) "Read Across America" program. It has also received 5 *starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Horn Book and School Library Journal and has been featured in national media including The New York Times, TIME Magazine, NPR, The Today Show, Good Morning America and NBC News. Her other books include the YA novel GOOD ENOUGH (HarperCollins 2008) , an Asian/Pacific American Award for Youth Literature honor book, and the IRA Notable picture book/chapter book biographies SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS: THE SAMMY LEE STORY, SHINING STAR: THE ANNA MAY WONG STORY, and TWENTY-TWO CENTS: MUHAMMAD YUNUS AND THE VILLAGE BANK from Lee & Low Books. She has also written three books for Lee & Low's "CONFETTI KIDS" early reader series and has a chapter book series coming out in 2022 from Lee & Low. As a TV writer/producer, her credits range from NBC's The West Wing to The CW's Supergirl, and she has sold multiple TV pilots and feature scripts. She is also a former journalist (The Seattle Times, The Detroit News, and PEOPLE Magazine) . She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in English, an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College, where she was the recipient of the Larry Levis Fiction Fellowship. When she's not writing, Paula is a professional freelance violinist who has played and toured with orchestras and such national recording acts as No Doubt, Il Divo, Fun, and Love. Website: https://paulayoo.com
