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<\/a>\u201c[Being bilingual] gives me I think more fluidity, I think, because I come from both worlds, and I call that a floating space. It is a groundless place, and that kind of mirrors into my writing because I want to find a space where it resists categorization,\u201d says Ham. \u201cFantastic and supernatural are my language. Usually, I like to write in the language where it\u2019s something that\u2019s not explainable, and I\u2019m confident looking for meaning in that space where it doesn\u2019t make sense, but there is meaning in it, so that\u2019s why I write in speculative fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ham\u2019s new book, Invisible Hotel<\/em>, is a personal look into her own experience as a Canadian exploring her Korean history, and its impact on past and present generations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHaving been born in Korea, I do carry that weight of history, and the weight of intergenerational trauma,\u201d she says. \u201cMy inspiration for this novel was my grandfather. My father told me that he was a North Korean, he had endured torture in the North and he had no choice but to escape during the war, leaving behind his mother, wife, and four children who he never saw again. So I grew up with these invisible yet very gripping ties that bind generations through shared heritage\u2026 I felt like always I had my grandfather with me, his history, his pain.\u201d<\/p>\n Coming from such a traumatic history creates difficulties in connection and communication between past and present generations, says Ham, and this is difficult to reconcile.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a huge gap between what our past generation went through and what our generation went through. Our world has become completely different,\u201d she says. \u201cMy Korean generation, we don\u2019t remember the war, but my parents and my grandparents do, and it reminded me, like, we don\u2019t really talk about this with our past generations, do we? It pains them to talk, but also our generation, I think it\u2019s kind of really hard to approach that topic, so it\u2019s that constant tension between the younger generation and the older generation as well.\u201d<\/p>\n This is an aspect she leans into in Invisible Hotel. Our current generation has much different fears and challenges than our grandparents had to deal with, and it can be difficult to feel like our struggles are legitimized in comparison. Yet every generation endures struggles specific to that time in history and culture, and it\u2019s always very real.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the book I explore that generational divide because in our generation, our fears are like, can I actually afford a house of my own, can I actually get married, have family, have a stable job,\u201d says Ham. \u201cThese are actually our real fears and desires. It\u2019s not something light, either\u2014we\u2019re very serious about this, it\u2019s a very great problem for us, but again, it\u2019s that generational difference, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n