Profiles

Nhớ Nước

I think writing and reading and engagement with language all go together.

Formative Years: A Conversation with Diana Khoi Nguyen and Steve Nguyen

The image of us walking away from the school–your accompanying me home moves me, but I’m not sure why. Perhaps because my adult self knows how with retrospection–how meaningful it was to have someone who looked like me/my family members–to spend time with me in a kind way.

“Human tragedy, human compassion, and always human redemption”: A Conversation between Wayne Karlin and Khanh Ha

I don’t remember what or who drew my attention to the first book of Khanh Ha’s I read, Mrs. Rossi’s Dream, but I do...

“All My Poetry is Nonfiction”: A Conversation with Sydney Do

I think one of my first poems was for my English class in middle school. We had to write poetry which inspired me to write about the experiences in my life. I had my first little crush and it didn’t go well so I wrote about that. And then my grandma had passed away shortly after so I just continued on with writing as a form of therapy.

Culinary Objects: An Interview with Jean Alex Quach

Using food was a way for me to have access to the story, to these stories.

“Broken Rice Style”: A Conversation with Kimberly Nguyễn

In the Bible, water transforms by cleansing, but you can always become dirty again. But if you put something through fire, it comes out completely different. When you burn something to ashes, you cannot undo that. I am really fascinated by the transformative quality of fire.