Egg on Mao

What prompted a once patriotic young worker to fill eggs with paint and deface Mao’s iconic portrait during the Tiananmen Square protests? To celebrate the launch of her much anticipated new book, Egg On Mao: The Story of an Ordinary Man who Defaced an Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship (Random House Canada), award-winning author Denise Chong will unravel this question with Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada. A Q&A will follow the interview. Marc Glassman, Executive Director of This Is Not A Reading Series will host the evening. – A This is Not A Reading Series event presented by the Force for Cultural Events Production, Gladstone Hotel, Random House Canada, NOW Magazine and Take Five On CIUT. EGG ON MAO, the eagerly-awaited new book by Denise Chong, author of the award-winning, national bestseller, The Concubine’s Children.In her first book in a decade, beloved author Denise Chong, tells the story of a man who humiliated a repressive regime in front of the entire world, and whose daring gesture informs our view of human rights to this day.Despite his family’s impeccable Communist roots, Lu Decheng, a small town bus mechanic, grew up intuiting all that was wrong with Mao’s China. As a young man he believes truth and decency mattered, only to learn that preserving the Chairman’s legacy mattered more.Lu’s story reads like Shakespearean drama, peppered with defiance, love and betrayal. His steadfast refusal to acquiesce comes to a head, but not an end, with his infamous defacing of Mao’s portrait during the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square.DENISE CHONG is the author of the family memoir The Concubine’s Children and The Girl in the Picture, a story of the napalm girl from the Vietnam War. She lives with her family in Ottawa.ALEX NEVE has been Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada since January 2000. He has worked for the organization nationally and internationally in a number of different roles for over twenty years. Neve has taught international human rights and refugee law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. Prior to taking up his current position he served as a Member of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board.CONTACTSDenise Chong: Sharon Klein, sklein@randomhouse.com, 416-957-1562This Is Not A Reading Series: Chris Reed, tinars@pagesbooks.ca