Little Seed

"In Little Seed , Wei Tchou is telling a novelistic personal story of trans-generational trauma—her parents were survivors of China’s Cultural Revolution, and her father had especially bad PTSD—while interspersing chapters about her hobby of raising ferns. At first the juxtaposition might seem jarring, but ultimately she shows how families are like ferns in their need for nurture, the interdependence, and finally independent growth of seedlings. It’s a deeply moving story told in a refreshingly offbeat manner. Our goal was to find the best of the best in autobiography. In order to do that, we read very widely so as not to overlook books that don’t necessarily get a lot of publicity and whose publishers don’t have the money or means to launch huge campaigns for their authors. Small independent presses and university presses by design tend to publish innovative works, so the award’s committee members really wanted to make sure that we read as many of their offerings as we could. That so many indie and university presses ended up on our short list is an indication of the quality of the writing!"