The #100 Love Notes Project: A Love Story - Hardcover

Yi, Hyong

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 099618841X ISBN 13: 9780996188418

Publisher: Lorimer Press, 2017

Synopsis

Flying socks, Spanish anchovies, origami butterflies, and tarot cards comprise just a small part of the collaborative efforts that produced 100 Love Notes, the book. Here, author Hyong Yi and the 17 artists he commissioned to illustrate his 100 three-line poems share some of the insights behind their work. Together, they have illuminated a story that captured the hearts of people around the world, giving it even greater meaning and purpose. 

The initial version of Hyong Yi's 100 Love Notes was launched on the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina on November 21, 2015. To honor his wife, Catherine Zanga, on the one-year anniversary of her death from ovarian cancer, Hyong and his two young children gave strangers 100 handwritten love notes, notes that chronicled Hyong and Catherine’s life together, from their first meeting, to dating, marriage, children, and her death, which came far too soon.

About this title

From the Author

What began as a husband’s effort to honor his late wife has become so much more. 

In November 2015, to mark the anniversary of Catherine’s death, I planned to hand out 100 love notes with my children and afterwards take them both to an indoor water park.  

The Charlotte news media―print and television―covered the story. Facebook and Twitter quickly spread awareness of the project, eventually sending it to the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. It wasn’t long before the story traveled around the world, and was translated into countless languages (several of which I still haven’t figured out).

Realizing that honoring Catherine could serve as inspiration for others provided a powerful motivation to turn 100 Love Notes, the project, into 100 Love Notes, the book. 

I am transformed by this experience. How I think about love, its primacy, and how we share love to build a better community are new revelations brought on  by life after Catherine. 

The artists, as well, report being deeply touched by working on this project. It challenged them and changed them.

In the telling of a love story, the empathetic heart cannot endure unchanged. 

My hope is that you will also be changed. 

(Hyong Yi)

About the Author

Hyong Yi has spent his career working as a public servant, currently for the City of Charlotte. He earned degrees in political science and public administration, qualifying him to work in government. He loves his community, his family, his children, and most importantly, his late wife, Catherine.

Originally from Chicago, Avery Caswell holds a BFA and MFA in design, and an MFA in creative writing and publication arts. She studied writing at Iowa Writers’ Workshop and illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art. Passionate about combining words and images, she was the lead writer and book designer for LUCK, A Collection of Facts, Fiction, Incantations & Verse. Her collages were featured in Far From the Centers of Ambition, and she is the author of Motherload, stories.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lorimer Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 099618841X
• ISBN 13: 9780996188418
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 232