Celeste Ng, the bestselling author of *Everything I Never Told You* and *Little Fires Everywhere*, engages in a thought-provoking conversation about feeling stuck despite doing everything 'right.' She discusses the daunting question of 'What do you want?' and how to navigate midlife transitions while embracing the chaos. Ng also highlights the power of imagination in creating new realities, the complexity of motherhood, and the societal pressures women face regarding their desires. She encourages exploring change and finding fulfillment amid life's challenges.
01:05:04
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Our Missing Hearts: A Story of Hope
Celeste Ng's novel, Our Missing Hearts, explores themes of fear, scapegoating, and the power of hope.
The story centers on a 12-year-old boy searching for his mother in a dystopian America.
insights INSIGHT
A Mother's Role
Our Missing Hearts questions a mother's role in a broken world: preserve the child's innocence or fight for change?
Is a mother's duty limited to her own child, or does it extend to all children?
question_answer ANECDOTE
Art's Purpose in a Pandemic
During the pandemic, Celeste Ng questioned the role of art in addressing global issues.
She felt her writing was less impactful than direct action, like a doctor saving lives.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Set in 1970s Ohio, 'Everything I Never Told You' follows the Lee family as they grapple with the death of their daughter Lydia. The novel explores themes of family trauma, grief, racism, and the pressures of parental expectations. Through a complex web of secrets and misunderstandings, Ng delves into the intricate relationships within the family and how their past shapes their present.
Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng
Little Fires Everywhere delves into the lives of the Richardson family and the enigmatic Mia Warren, an artist and single mother, as they navigate the complexities of suburban life in the 1990s. The novel explores themes of motherhood, identity, and the secrets that can both unite and divide families and communities. A custody battle over a Chinese-American baby further complicates the relationships between the characters, highlighting issues of race, class, and belonging.
1. What to do when you’ve done everything you were supposed to do and ended up in a place you don’t want to be.
2. Why the question “What do you want?” is terrifying – and how to start answering it authentically for yourself.
3. The power of imagining what does not yet exist in order to make space for new possibilities.
4. The gift of a “midlife crisis”
5. What a mother’s job really is.
About Celeste:
Celeste Ng is the number one New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere. Her third novel, Our Missing Hearts, is available now. Ng is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and her work has been published in over thirty languages.
We Can Do Hard Things 
