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A conversation with Amanda Nguyen and Weijia Jiang.
Join the Library, Vietnam Society, and Politics and Prose Bookstore for a conversation with Amanda Nguyen, author of the new memoir Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope. In conversation with Weijia Jiang, Amanda will share from her moving journey toward acceptance and hope.
Books will be available for sale at the talk with pre-signed copies available.
A brave and imaginative new memoir by Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Amanda Nguyen. In 2013, the trajectory of Amanda Nguyen’s life was changed forever when she was raped at Harvard.
Determined to not let her assault derail her goal of joining NASA after graduation, Nguyen opted for her rape kit to be filed under “Jane Doe.” But she was shocked to learn her choice to stay anonymous gave her only six months to take action before the state destroyed her kit, rendering any future legal action impossible. Nguyen knew then that she had two options: surrender to a law that effectively denied her justice, or fight for a change—not only for herself but for survivors everywhere.
A heart-wrenching memoir of survival and hope, Saving Five boldly braids the story of Nguyen’s activism—which resulted in Congress’s unanimous passage of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act in 2016—with a second, beautifully imagined adventure, of Nguyen's younger selves as they—at ages five, fifteen, twenty-two, and thirty—navigate through dramatic incarnations of the emotional stages of her path toward healing, not only from her rape but from the violent turmoil of her childhood. The result is a groundbreaking work that seamlessly blends memoir with a moving journey toward acceptance and hope, forging a path ahead that is as inspiring as it is instructive.
From one of the most influential activists (and now astronauts) of her time, Saving Five is at once a tribute to resilience, a celebration of healing through action, and a resounding cry to change the world.
Amanda Nguyen is an activist and astronaut. She will become the first Vietnamese woman to go to space when she flies on an upcoming Blue Origin launch on the New Shepard rocket. Amanda's activism focuses on the intersection of race and gender. She ignited the Stop Asian Hate movement and passed sexual assault survivor rights in the United States and United Nations through her work at Rise. For her work she was nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize and is a 2022 TIME Woman of the Year.
Weijia Jiang is CBS News' senior White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C. Jiang's reporting is featured across all CBS News broadcasts and platforms, including the "CBS Evening News," CBS Mornings" and CBS News 24/7, CBS News' premier 24/7 anchored streaming news service.
Jiang has covered the White House beat since 2018, including the transitions between presidential administrations. She has also reported extensively on the increased violence against the AAPI community and the resulting policy changes. Jiang has traveled on Air Force One on several occasions, both domestically and abroad. She has covered major stories for the Network including President Trump’s impeachments, the 2020 and 2024 Presidential campaigns and elections, and President Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and the resulting Harris 2024 campaign. During her coverage of the first Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the answers to her questions during press briefings often made news. In 2023, Jiang won an Emmy award for her contributions to "CBS Mornings."
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Women's History Month | Author Talk |
