Frances Park — AHN LOVE - with Sean Collins
Frances Park presents *Ahn Love*, a novel that follows Margaret as she visits her widowed father, Sam Ahn, on his ninetieth birthday. Sam’s profound loneliness, sustained by his conviction that his late wife will return if his orchids bloom, draws Margaret into memories of a pivotal seven-day Pacific cruise in 1969.
During that voyage, the teenage Margaret—known as Monkey—watches her family begin to fracture, including her Uncle Bong’s betrayal and her mother’s encounter with a Brazilian playboy. She also experiences her first romantic awakening through an intense relationship with Adam Kang, a young Korean Brit. The novel connects these memories with the present in a meditation on desire, grief, family history, and the passage of time.
Park will discuss the book with Sean Collins, a writer, photographer, and Washington Post editor who covers politics. Collins is working on his first novel; his writing has appeared in Vox, The Chromatic Watch, and Blavity, and his photography has been exhibited in the United States and the United Kingdom.
When: November 7, 2026
Showtime: 6:00pm
Venue: Politics and Prose at Union Market, 1324 4th Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
Tickets: Free
Seating: First come, first served.
Featured author: Frances Park is a Korean American novelist and memoirist whose work includes *Blue Rice*, *The Summer My Sister Was Cleopatra Moon*, and *That Lonely Spell*. Her fiction, essays, and short stories have appeared in more than fifty literary magazines, and much of her writing reflects the loss of her father and the experience of living between Korean and American identities.
Conversation partner: Sean Collins is originally from Chicago and lives in Washington, DC. In addition to his work at The Washington Post, he writes and photographs; his photography can be viewed at seanpagecollins.com.
Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com. The venue asks that requests ideally be made one week before the event, though it will try to accommodate requests made up to the event time.
Age guidance: Not specified.
Run time: Not specified.