Where You're From, Where You've Been: A Conversation Across Cultures

What does it mean to belong somewhere — and what happens when you write about it? Join us at the Sausalito Library at 6:00 p.m. for a conversation with three local authors whose books explore life between cultures. Inga Aksamit, Erin Van Rheenen, and Joanna Choi Kalbus write memoir, fiction, and personal history, bringing very different answers to questions of displacement, home, and the craft of capturing a world that isn't quite yours anymore—or maybe never was.

Inga Aksamit is an award-winning author, adventurer, and former oncology nurse. Raised in Pakistan, Peru, Bangladesh, Indonesia and California, her third-culture childhood inspired Between Worlds: An Expat’s Quest for Belonging. She also wrote Highs and Lows on the John Muir Trail and The Hungry Spork. She attended high school at Sir Francis Drake (now Archie Williams HS) and now splits her time between Sausalito and Sonoma.

In Erin Van Rheenen’s new novel, You Could Be Happy Here, a California woman goes in search of her biological father in Costa Rica. The story draws from Erin’s time in that country, during which she wrote Living Abroad in Costa Rica and The Manatee’s Big Day, a bilingual children’s book. She has also lived in Nigeria, Ireland, Mexico, Ecuador, and Guatemala. Her work has been featured in Bellevue Literary Review, Atlas Obscura, BBC Travel, The Sun, and Best Women’s Travel Writing.

Joanna Choi Kalbus was born in North Korea. She made two critical migrations--from North Korea to South Korea after the Communist takeover, and then to the United States as a ten-year-old during the Korean War. She pursued her education in the United States, obtaining a Ph.D. in Educational Administration, and has been involved in education for thirty-five years. The Boat Not Taken is her first book.