author spotlight: hanya yanagihara

Hanya Yanagihara is an American author who grew up in Hawaii and who is best known for her novel, A Little Life. She suggested the book to be an illustration of when it might be appropriate to commit suicide and that it may not always be accurate to say that life is always the answer. She is partially of Japanese descent through her father and partly of Korean descent through her mother.

A Little Life

Summary: Following four college friends—Willem, JB, Malcolm, and especially Jude—over several decades in New York, the novel gradually focuses on Jude’s traumatic past and present struggles. His brilliance is shadowed by deep emotional and physical scars, and the book becomes a harrowing exploration of pain, love, and endurance.

Themes: Trauma, found family, abuse, disability, love, queer identity, memory

To Paradise

Summary: Spanning three alternate timelines (1893, 1993, and 2093), this speculative epic reimagines America’s history and future through interconnected characters named David. Across different eras of queerness, illness, authoritarianism, and environmental collapse, it examines love, freedom, and the costs of utopia.

Themes: Queer history, speculative dystopia, illness, family, power and surveillance, love