Overview

How do we Implement our Mission?

The Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN) runs six programs that offer supportive engagement for the process (the writers), production (the stories), and public dissemination (connection and community) of literary artwork by writers and artists of the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian diaspora.

With these pillars we seek to:

Support the creative development process of writing, translation, and literary multimedia projects by writers and artists of the Vietnamese diaspora;

Empower diasporic writers and artists to make work on their own terms; to discover/cultivate connectivity and individual vision(s);

Promote the multiplicity of voices and stories representing Vietnamese diasporic writers/artists and Vietnamese and Southeast Asian diasporic experience and imaginations, via communication channels, publication, and other means;

Connect writers/artists and their works to an audience that encompasses Vietnamese diasporic communities all over the globe, Vietnamese in Vietnam, as well as people from other diasporic and non-Vietnamese communities;

Nurture and sustain a dynamic, integrative, multilingual network that fosters dialogues and community amongst writers, readers, and the general public who wish to engage through or around Vietnamese and Southeast Asian diasporic literature and art.

Learn more about our Programs

Accented flyer

Public Events

DVAN organizes and sponsors public events nationwide and in other countries to enhance the visibility of Vietnamese writers and to promote dialogues worldwide. Our events showcase established, prize-winning authors along with emerging voices. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions of 2020 and the indefinite future, we have moved our programming online and have launched a webinar series, ÁCCENTED: Dialogues in the Diaspora,” hosted by Viet Thanh Nguyen with quarterly appearances by She Who Has No Master(s).

diaCRITICS (Online Journal)

DVAN’s bi-weekly blog diaCRITICS has a global reach and publishes about 100 stories per year, showcasing artists, writers, events, and cultural activities on all shores of the diaspora, including stories from the U.S., Australia, Europe, Vietnam, and other places. With nearly 1,000 online subscribers and a growing team of contributing editors and writers, we serve as a hub for sharing and increasing visibility for contemporary arts and literature of the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian diasporas.

She Who Has No Master(s)

Publishing

DVAN publishes quality books and essays for a mainstream audience as well as for students, universities, libraries, and other diasporic communities. DVAN also collaborates with publication presses to expand the corpus and access of Diasporic Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian American Literature.

Residencies & Resources for Writers

DVAN provides valuable support to both emerging and established writers through free annual Writers Residencies in serene locations. We organize:

  • a ten-day group residency in the Spring, in partnership with the Djerassi Resident Artists Program
  • a month-long writing residency for an emerging writer, in partnership with the Djerassi Resident Artists Program
  • a ten-day summer group residency in the town of Vezelay, France

Our group residencies are generally followed by a public event.

Djerassi Residency Sculpture

We work on educational and community projects hosted at SF State University in the college of Ethnic Studies. [email protected] contributes to Vietnamese American, Southeast Asian Studies, and Asian American curriculum while empowering and training university students to serve as active agents of social changes. By promoting Vietnamese American authors and their texts in solidarity with other Southeast Asian Americans, we introduce younger generations to the work of their forebears while also mentoring students to produce their own stories.

DVAN@SFSU on the stage

Workshops

DVAN hosts workshops and craft talks to further support writers and creative members of our community to learn, work, and create alongside established diasporic Vietnamese artists in a collaborative setting. Our offerings are special in that they focus on aspects of creative craft and profession in ways that are particularly resonant and relevant to SE Asian and Vietnamese writers and creatives. Writing workshops and craft talks are open to the general public, with special offers of free or deeply discounted tuition rates for DVAN members.