Viet Thanh Nguyen is a writer, co-founder of DVAN, and professor at the University of Southern California. His debut novel, The Sympathizer, won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and numerous other awards. His other books include: Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (2016), The Refugees (2017), The Committed (2021), and A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial (2023).

An-My Lê is an internationally renowned photographer primarily based in New York. Her work often addresses the impact of war on culture and on the environment. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Art, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, and Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation award. Lê is currently the Charles Franklin Kellogg and Grace E. Ramsey Kellogg Professor in the Arts at Bard College, New York.

Lien-Hang T. Nguyen is the Dorothy Borg Associate Professor in the History of the United States and East Asia, Director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, and co-founder of Global Vietnam Studies at Columbia University. Author of Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam and General Editor of The Cambridge History of the Vietnam War, 3 vols., she is currently working on a comprehensive history of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Professor Nguyen received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MA, MPhil, and PhD from Yale University.

Alexandra Huynh is a Vietnamese American poet from Sacramento, CA. In 2021, she became the 5th National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. Her work has been featured by NPR, PBS, NBC, CBS This Morning, The Washington Post, and National Geographic Kids. In 2022, she was featured in “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” and joined Room to Read. In 2023, Alexandra became the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at the Harvard University Asia Center. She currently studies American and Asian American Studies at Stanford University.

Bao Phi is an award-winning spoken word artist and poet. He is a two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and a National Poetry Slam finalist. His poetry is included in The Best American Poetry 2006 anthology and published widely elsewhere, including in two collections, Sông I Sing and Thousand Star Hotel, and in Poetry magazine, Asian American Literary Review, and The Spoken Word Revolution.

Paul Tran is the author of the debut poetry collection, All the Flowers Kneeling. Their work appears in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. Winner of the Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Prize, as well as fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, Stanford University, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Paul is an Assistant Professor of English and Asian American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Thao, known for her distinctive blend of indie rock and folk, has continued to evolve artistically and personally since dropping the lengthy moniker of “Thao & The Get Down Stay Down” in 2021. Her latest album, ‘Temple,’ reflects a profound exploration of themes like freedom and belonging, shaped by her experiences reconnecting with her cultural roots on her first trip to Vietnam. Thao’s recent involvement in PBS’s Southern Storytellers series as both host and featured artist further highlights her narrative strength and ability to connect with diverse audiences through her music and storytelling. Balancing personal vulnerability with broader cultural commentary, Thao remains a prominent voice in the contemporary music scene.

Thanh Tân is a Vietnamese American storyteller, filmmaker, and DJ based in Seattle. Inspired by her father’s love of music and her mother’s Paris By Night collection, Thanh curates vibrant sets blending pre-1975 Vietnamese vinyl with tracks from Asia and the diaspora. As a founding member of SEA Vinyl Society, she uses music to preserve cultural history and bridge generations, turning every record drop into an act of joy, resistance, and connection.

Philip Nguyen is the Executive Director of the Vietnamese American Roundtable (VAR). He holds an M.A. in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University, where he currently teaches Vietnamese American literature and history. Philip has worked with various community organizations to advocate for and amplify Vietnamese American voices, including DVAN and PIVOT.

Vina Vo is a storyteller and facilitator who aims to bridge the cultural, generational, and geographic divide caused by displacement and diaspora. Vina co-leads and directs a writing program called this is my body to support women of color to write and perform their own solo performance/s. She is the co-editor of the anthology this is my body published by Nomadic Press in 2019. She is working on her first novel. She is the co-founder of the Novalia Collective and Creo Tea & Coffee.