Monthly Archives: January, 2021

THIS IS FOR MẸ: Bà Ngoại Ơi

"Her perfume is a blend of tiger balm and knock-off Chanel. Her steps are slow, but her eyes are animated. Her grey hair unveils the full life she has led, while her skin is marked  and shriveled by hardship.:

Thuy-Van Vu’s Art Points to the Story Beyond the Subject

The story changes the longer you look, and even when you turn away from the canvas, a haunting afterimage lingers—like a memory of a bittersweet encounter, or of the first book that made you cry.

In the Diaspora: January 2021

Socio-cultural, literary, and political news and events relating to the Vietnamese diaspora and to Việt Nam.

Book Review: Vietnam by Max Hastings

"Touted as a soldier’s book for soldiers, 'Vietnam' delivers strong military storytelling with narratives focused at the grassroots level while also bringing the stories of people at ground zero from all sides of the Vietnam conflict to light in all of its grueling, limb-wrenching, and heart-breaking detail."

Tranquility: Trang T. Lê in Conversation with Isabelle Thuy Pelaud

"With every painting, I struggle. I struggle with the composition and color, like how I struggle with life.  As I am working on it, through it, I heal."

Bug Meat For The Girls ~ a story by Teline Trần

I will take you home, bug. I will put a pot of water on the stove. I think you will feel fear and suffering, but your body will not be broken until after you die. According to our people, that makes you special.