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  3. Leth Oun and Joe Samuel Starnes | A Refugee’s American Dream: From the…


Leth Oun and Joe Samuel Starnes | A Refugee’s American Dream: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the U.S. Secret Service

Tue, February 28, 2023 7:30 P.M. Add to your calendar
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

REGISTER

Veteran United States Secret Service Officer Leth Oun has protected presidents and vice presidents in four administrations in almost every state and more than a dozen countries. A political refugee who survived the genocidal Killing Fields of Cambodia, he arrived in America in 1983, became a citizen in 1990, earned a college degree from Widener University in 1998, and went to work for the federal government in 2000. 

Joe Samuel Starnes three celebrated novels include Calling, Red Dirt, and Fall Line, which was named to The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s 2011 “Best of the South” list. All of these works are featured in an essay in Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers: New Voices, New Perspectives. His articles have appeared in several periodicals, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and his essays, short stories, and poems have been published in numerous literary journals.

A Refugee’s American Dream recounts Oun’s father’s execution by the brutal Khmer Rouge, his almost four years of enslavement in the Killing Fields followed by more than three years in refugee camps, his arrival in America as a penniless 17-year-old, and his transcendent journey to the Secret Service that culminates with his return to Cambodia as part of President Obama’s protection detail. 

Masks are welcome but are not required.
Books will be available for purchase at the library on event night.
A book signing will follow the presentation.
Books provided by Uncle Bobbie's Coffee and Books

Ages
  • Adult
Event Type
  • Author Events
  • Speakers and Lectures
Event Series
  • Author Events - Free Series
Event Tags
  • Author Events
  • Biography and Autobiography

Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine Street (between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway)
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-567-4341

Upcoming Events at Parkway Central Library

Wednesday, February 8, 2023
7:30 P.M.
Steve Lopez | Independence Day: What I Learned about Retirement from Some Who’ve Done it and Some Who Never Will
Thursday, February 9, 2023
10:30 A.M.
Storytime Adventures!
12:00 P.M.
Lunch & Learn: Networking
1:00 P.M.
Free Library Chess Club
1:00 P.M.
Virtual - One on One Resume Review and Mock Interviews with Day and Zimmermann

Upcoming Author Events - Free Series Events

Wednesday, February 8, 2023
7:30 P.M.
Steve Lopez | Independence Day: What I Learned about Retirement from Some Who’ve Done it and Some Who Never Will | Parkway Central Library
Thursday, February 9, 2023
7:30 P.M.
Sadeqa Johnson | The House of Eve | Parkway Central Library
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
7:30 P.M.
Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. | Who Hears Here: On Black Music, Pasts, & Present | Parkway Central Library
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
7:30 P.M.
Joseph Earl Thomas | Sink: A Memoir | Parkway Central Library
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
7:30 P.M.
Jamila Minnicks | Moonrise Over New Jessup | Parkway Central Library
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