Peter benjamin hessler born 19690614june 14, 1969 is an american writer and journalist. Hes married to journalist leslie chang with whom he has twin. Bookforum talks with peter hessler bookforum magazine. Simon winchester, author of the professor and the madman tender, intelligent, and insightful, this is the work of a writer of. His letter from china articles have included features on the basketball player yao ming, a shenzhen factory worker, and a rural family in the grip of a medical crisis. He is the author of oracle bones and river town, which won the 2001 kiriyama pacific rim book prize. Two years on the yangtze by peter hessler goodreads. Peter would become a pcv in china from 199698 and write four books on his experiences, beginning with river town, the story of his peace corps tour.
He is the author of river town, which won the kiriyama book prize, oracle bones, which was a finalist for the national book award, country. Read river town by peter hessler for free with a 30 day free trial. Buy this book in china, the year 1997 was marked by two momentous events. In the heart of chinas sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the yangtze river valley. In 1996, 26yearold peter hessler arrived in fuling, a town on chinas yangtze river, to begin a twoyear peace corps stint as a teacher at the local college. River town tells the story sometimes funny, sometimes sad, often inspiring.
In 2011, hessler received a macarthur foundation genius grant in recognition and encouragement of his keenly observed accounts of ordinary people responding to. One of my teachers was from manchuria, a wisp of a woman with high cheekbones who had a. A new york times notable book winner of the kiriyama book prize in the heart of chinas sichuan province, amid the terra. A new york times notable bookwinner of the kiriyama book prizein the heart of chinas sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the yangtze river valley. One night at a bar, i met a man, and within five minutes he explained that he had just been released from prison. His first book, river town, described this experience. From the acclaimed author of river town and oracle bones, an intimate excavation of life in one of the worlds oldest civilizations at a time of convulsive change drawn by an abiding fascination with egypts rich history and civilization, peter hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to cairo to explore a place that had a powerful hold. Peter hesslers the buried puts egypts past in perspective.
River town is both a heartfelt memoir and a rare insight into china of the late 1990s containing both memoirs of a lost china, and a china that still lives on. Hessler joined the new yorker as a staff writer in 2000 and served as foreign correspondent for the same publication until 2007. Oracle bones, which was a finalist for the national book award. He is the author of four books about china and has contributed numerous.
Peter hessler is a staff writer at the new yorker, where he served as beijing correspondent from 20002007, and is also a contributing writer for national geographic. For two years, he lived in fuling, a small city affected by the three gorges dam. The two had met in china, where hessler first landed as a peace corps volunteer in 1996. Peter hessler wanted to get out of his comfort zone. From 2000 until 2007, he was the magazines correspondent in china and, from 2011 to 2016, he. Two years on the yangtze 2001 is a kiriyama prizewinning book about his experiences in two years as a peace corps volunteer teaching english in china. In 2011, hessler received a macarthur foundation genius grant in recognition and encouragement of his keenly observed accounts of ordinary. Peter hessler from the acclaimed author of river town and oracle bones, an intimate excavation of life in one of the worlds oldest civilizations at a time of convulsive change drawn by a fascination with egypts rich history and culture, peter hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to cairo in 2011. He is the author of river town, which won the kiriyama book prize, oracle bones, which was a finalist for the national book award, country driving, and strange stones. In the heart of chinas sichuan province lies the small city of fuling. Have you ever read a book about something youve done that was by someone who did the same or close to it but better and that bothers you. He is the author of river town, which won the kiriyama prize. He is also a contributing writer for national geographic. Two years on the yangtze new ed by hessler, peter isbn.
When peter hessler went to china in the late 1990s, he expected to spend a couple of peaceful years teaching english in the town of fuling on the yangtze river. This is the story of peter hessler, an american student, who takes up an english teaching post in a remote town called fuling where the river wu meets the yangtze. Peter hessler is a writer of narrative nonfiction and the author of four books. Peter hessler joined the new yorker as a staff writer in 2000. In 1996, hessler reported for his peace corps duty to fuling, a city of some 200,000 souls astride the murky yangtze river, which cuts through the green and terraced mountains of sichuan province. In the fall of 2011, peter hessler arrived in egypt, with his family twin. But what he experienced the natural beauty, cultural tension, and complex process of understanding that takes place when one is thrust into a radically different society surpassed. In 2011 he was awarded a macarthur foundation genius grant.
But what he experienced the natural beauty, cultural tension, and complex process of understanding that takes place when one is thrust into a radically different society surpassed anything he could. Its position at the crossroads came into sharp focus when. Peter benjamin hessler born june 14, 1969 is an american writer and journalist. Peter hessler is a staff writer at the new yorker, where he served as the beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007, and is also a contributing writer for national geographic. River town peter hessler paperback harpercollins publishers. Thats a little how i felt about peter hessler s river town. He is the author of four books about china and has contributed numerous articles to the new yorker and national geographic, among other publications. Read river town online by peter hessler books free 30day. For two years, he taught english and studied chinese in the small yangtze river city of fuling. A twoyear sojourn in a small city in central china yields this youthful, gracefully impressionistic portrait of a time and place from newcomer hessler. Peter benjamin hessler 1 born june 14, 1969 is an american writer and journalist. While hessler describes a part of sichuan or later chongqing municipality that was greatly affected by the three gorges dam, much of the china that hessler describes remains ever.
Hessler won a national magazine award for instant cities, a twoyear study of a new factory town in chinas zhejiang province, which was published in national geographic, in 2007. Along with fellow teacher adam meier, the two are the first foreigners to be in. Two years on the yangtze 2001 is a kiriyama prizewinning book about his experiences in two years as a. Hessler has a marvelous sense of the intonations and gestures that give life to the moment. Along with fellow teacher adam meier, the two are the first foreigners to be in this part of the sichuan province for 50 years. Like many other small cities in this vast and everevolving country, fuling is shifting gears and heading down a new path, one of change and vitality, tension and reform, disruption and growth.
Peter hessler recently relocated to cairo with his wife, journalist leslie t. From the acclaimed author of river town and oracle bones, an intimate excavation of life in one of the worlds oldest civilizations at a time of convulsive change. In the fall of 2011, peter hessler arrived in egypt, with his family twin toddlers, and his wife, the writer leslie chang. Another drinker told me that his wife had passed away, and he had recently suffered a heart attack, and now he hoped that.
In 1996, peter hessler joined the peace corps as a volunteer english teacher. Hessler then moved to beijing, where he became the china correspondent for the new yorker and a contributing writer to national geographic. Wall street journal from the acclaimed author of river town and oracle bones, an intimate excavation of life in one of the worlds oldest civilizations at a time of convulsive change drawn by a fascination with egypts rich history and culture, peter hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to cairo in 2011. Peter hessler first went to live in china in 1996, as a peace corps volunteer. Fuling becomes his home for the next two years and here we are treated to a feast of chinese life in a town where they are very unused to waiguorn foreigners. In the heart of chinas sichuan province, tucked away amid the terraced hills of the yangtze river valley, lies the remote town of fuling. The book won the kiriyama prize, which is awarded for works about the pacific rim and south asia. Hessler, who spent two years as a peace corps volunteer in a city called fuling, a yangtze river town in southwestern china, taught english and american literature at fuling teachers college, and the classroom provides the. River town is memoir, travelogue, and astute anthropological writing woven into a book that is difficult to put down. Peter hessler is a correspondent for the new yorker and a contributor to national geographic. Peter hessler is a staff writer at the new yorker, where he served as beijing correspondent from 20002007 and cairo correspondent from 20112016. From the acclaimed author of river town and oracle bones, an intimate excavation of life in one of the worlds oldest civilizations at a time of convulsive changedrawn by an abiding fascination with egypts rich history and civilization, peter hessler moved with his wife. He is best known for his first three books on china.
When hessler delivered the manuscript, for what would eventually become his first book, river town, the story of his peace corps years. Chang, also a writer, win a macarthur foundation genius award in 2011, and move to cairo for the next. The buried river town oracle bones country driving strange stones. Id taught in china for a year a decade before hessler taught there for two years. Simon winchester, author of the professor and the madman tender, intelligent, and insightful, this is the work of a writer of rare talent. He is the author of river town, which won the kiriyama book prize, and oracle bones, which was a finalist for the national book award. Book overview from the acclaimed author of river town and oracle bones, an intimate excavation of life in one of the worlds oldest civilizations at a time of convulsive change drawn by a fascination with egypts rich history and culture, peter hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to cairo in 2011. He is the magazines correspondent in the peoples republic of china, where he has lived since 1996. Born in columbia, missouri, he now lives in cairo with his wife and daughters. Country driving addresses the human side of the economic revolution in china, focusing on. Drawn by a fascination with egypts rich history and culture, peter hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to cairo in 2011. In 2006, peter hessler was in beijing coming off the success of national book awardfinalist oracle bones. After living and writing three more books, he would return to the u.
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