Susan Choi's Novel Flashlight Explores Identity and Family Secrets

Susan Choi, a Korean‑American author born in 1969 in South Bend, Indiana, discusses her latest novel Flashlight. The book, announced at the Pordenone literary festival in Italy, follows the disappearance of a character named Serk and delves into family secrets, identity, memory and the question of how fully one can know another person. Choi, who won the 2019 National Book Award for Trust Exercise, describes the novel as an effort to understand what it means to be Korean and to confront hidden truths within families.

The interview highlights her background—growing up in Texas, living in New York, and navigating a bicultural heritage—and frames Flashlight as a continuation of her focus on belonging and the complexities of personal histories.