Mai Neng Moua will be reading from her book, The Bride Price: A Hmong Wedding Story  at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse  on Tues, April 3, 7 PM at Centennial Hall 1309 .

When Mai Neng Moua decides to get married, her mother, a widow, wants the groom to follow Hmong custom and pay a bride price, which both honors the work the bride’s family has done in raising a daughter and offers a promise of love and security from the groom’s family. Mai Neng, who knows the pain this tradition has caused, says no. Her husband-to-be supports her choice.

What happens next is devastating, and it raises questions about the very meaning of being Hmong in America. The couple refuses to participate in the tshoob, the traditional Hmong marriage ceremony; many members of their families, on both sides, stay away from their church wedding. Months later, the families carry out the tshoob without the wedding couple. But even after the bride price has been paid, Mai Neng finds herself outside of Hmong culture and at odds with her mother, not realizing the full meaning of the customs she has rejected. As she navigates the Hmong world of animism, Christianity, and traditional gender roles, she begins to learn what she has not been taught. Through a trip to Thailand, through hard work in the garden, through the birth of another generation, one strong woman seeks reconciliation with another.

Mai Neng Moua is a writer and editor who has worked for over two decades to amplify Hmong and Hmong-American voices in the literary arts. She founded and edited Paj Ntaub Voice, a journal of Hmong literature, and also edited the anthology Bamboo Among the Oaks: Contemporary Writing by Hmong-Americans. In addition to being a crucial figure in the modern Hmong literary arts movements, she is currently a Rapid Response Specialist for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic. She is also the mother of two, and as of late, a tireless campaigner for her husband, Blong Yang, in his re-election for Minneapolis city council.

Books will be sold at the event. Questions? Please contact Dr. Vincent Her at vher@uwlax.edu.