Songs on Endless Repeat: Essays and Outtakes

A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 from: LA Times * Boston Globe * The Millions * LitHub * Shondaland

By the New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning AFTERPARTIES comes a collection like none other: sharply funny, emotionally expansive literary essays and linked short fiction exploring family, queer desire, pop culture, and race

The late Anthony Veasna So’s debut story collection, Afterparties, was a landmark publication, hailed as a “bittersweet triumph for a fresh voice silenced too soon” (Fresh Air). And he was equally known for his comic, soulful essays, published in n+1, The New Yorker, and The Millions.

Songs on Endless Repeat gathers those essays together, along with previously unpublished fiction. Written with razor-sharp wit and an unflinching eye, the essays examine his youth in California, the immigrant experience of his refugee parents, his intimate friendships, loss, pop culture, and more. And in linked fiction following three Cambodian American cousins who stand to inherit their late aunt’s illegitimate loan-sharking business, So explores community, grief, and longing with inimitable humor and depth.

Following “one of the most exciting contributions to Asian American literature in recent years” (Vulture), Songs on Endless Repeat is an astonishing final expression by a writer of “extraordinary achievement and immense promise” (The New Yorker).

• Cambodian American Experience: Step into the world of Cambodian American life in Stockton, California, through the eyes of a groundbreaking author grappling with family, community, and the long shadow of the Khmer Rouge.
• Linked Short Stories: Follow three cousins as they navigate grief, longing, and a complicated inheritance: their late aunt’s illegitimate loan-sharking business.
• Humor and Trauma: Explore the connection between humor and trauma through razor-sharp observations on pop culture, race, family, and queer desire.
• LGBTQ Voices: A soulful and intimate exploration of queer identity and desire, written with the wit and depth that made Anthony Veasna So a literary star.