Book Launch: Forbidden Fruit 1980 Beijing by Gail Pellett

“All good journalists travel in multiple time zones: the present, the past, and the future, enabling readers to share a textured experience as history, politics, and culture create a vortex of change. My gifted colleague, Gail Pellett, who arrived in Beijing in l980, becomes witness to history’s turning. And she fortunately possessed the sensuous antennae to capture the emotional truth within the discernible reality. She has written a riveting tale of a woman’s adventure in pursuit of forbidden fruit.” –Bill Moyers, broadcast journalist and author

In 1980, Gail Pellett, a producer for radio and TV, moved from New York to Beijing to work as a “foreign expert” at Radio Beijing, China’s equivalent to the Voice of America. Invited for her expertise and American-Canadian perspective, she was then treated as a Western spy. Chinese colleagues, acquaintances and, most painfully, lovers were warned away.

During a pivotal moment in post Cultural Revolution China when windows were being thrown open – and then, slammed shut — this story records Pellett’s journey from hope, naivete and ignorance through profound disillusionment and emotional pain to enlightenment in her efforts to taste Mao’s forbidden fruit.











When: Wed., Jun. 1, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where: powerHouse Arena
28 Adams St.
718-666-3049
Price: Free
Buy tickets/get more info now
See other events in these categories:

“All good journalists travel in multiple time zones: the present, the past, and the future, enabling readers to share a textured experience as history, politics, and culture create a vortex of change. My gifted colleague, Gail Pellett, who arrived in Beijing in l980, becomes witness to history’s turning. And she fortunately possessed the sensuous antennae to capture the emotional truth within the discernible reality. She has written a riveting tale of a woman’s adventure in pursuit of forbidden fruit.” –Bill Moyers, broadcast journalist and author

In 1980, Gail Pellett, a producer for radio and TV, moved from New York to Beijing to work as a “foreign expert” at Radio Beijing, China’s equivalent to the Voice of America. Invited for her expertise and American-Canadian perspective, she was then treated as a Western spy. Chinese colleagues, acquaintances and, most painfully, lovers were warned away.

During a pivotal moment in post Cultural Revolution China when windows were being thrown open – and then, slammed shut — this story records Pellett’s journey from hope, naivete and ignorance through profound disillusionment and emotional pain to enlightenment in her efforts to taste Mao’s forbidden fruit.

Buy tickets/get more info now