SIGH, GONE

A Misfit’s Memoir about Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In

Phuc Tran is talking about his memoir Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In on Sunday
October 11th at 4pm in a free, online Zoom event.

[Online Zoom Event – Sunday October 11th 2020]

On Sunday, October 11th at 4pm, the Toadstool Bookshops in Keene,
Peterborough, and Nashua is hosting author, classicist, educator, and
tattooist Phuc Tran presenting and discussing his memoir Sigh, Gone: A
Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In in a
free online event via Zoom.

Phuc Tran immigrated to America along with his family during the fall of
Saigon in 1975 and landed in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where
the Trans struggled to assimilate into their new life. In this
coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The
Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the
push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of
immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while
attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents.
Sigh, Gone explores one man’s bewildering experiences of abuse, racism,
and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock.
Against the hairspray-and-synthesizer backdrop of the ’80s, he finds
solace and kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, and in the
subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation and echoes of his
disaffection. In his journey for self-discovery Tran ultimately finds
refuge and inspiration in the art that shapes–and ultimately saves–him.

Phuc Tran has been a high school Latin teacher for more than twenty years
while also simultaneously establishing himself as a highly sought-after
tattooer in the Northeast. Tran graduated Bard College in 1995 with a BA
in Classics and received the Callanan Classics Prize. His 2012 TEDx talk
“Grammar, Identity, and the Dark Side of the Subjunctive” was featured on
NPR’s Ted Radio Hour. He has also been an occasional guest on Maine Public
Radio, discussing grammar; the Classics; and Strunk and White’s legacy. He
currently tattoos at and owns Tsunami Tattoo in Portland, Maine, where he
lives with his family.

The link for this Zoom event can be found on the events page at
www.toadbooks.com/event/sighgone. For more information, call the Toadstool
Bookshop in Keene at 603-352-8815.

Phuc’s book is available for purchase at all of the Toadstool Bookshops or
online at www.toadbooks.com.