Author of A Phở Love Story (out now!) and Solving for the Unknown (Summer 2023)/ Book Editor
Life
WRITING PLAYLIST #2
(I haven’t posted in awhile, but let’s just ignore that and get on with it, shall we?) Library Sounds I miss sitting in a library or a café with other people, our silence unifying us. So, I’ve been listening to tracks that mimic this experience. From coffeeshop chatter to café jazz to library sounds, there’s […]
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6.23.2020
One of my favorite websites is revealing the cover for A Phở Love Story, and I CAN’T FREAKING WAIT. I finalized it back in March and have only shared it with family and close friends. It’s been hard keeping it a secret. Let me just say that it perfectly represents Vietnamese-American culture. And it’s flirty […]
MoreWriting Playlist
It’s such a sunny day outside, but I’m hoping everyone still remembers to practice social distancing! I’m sitting in my parents’ living room, alternating between reading Remember Me Like This by Bret Anthony Johnston (wonderful so far!), downing a glass of Dalgona whipped coffee, and jotting down notes to a potential second young adult novel. All the while, my favorite music plays in the background.
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Vietnamese Song #0.5: Thành Phố Buồn
While food tends to act as a gateway to my childhood, music also summons the past into the present. I remember listening to Savage Garden’s “Truly, Madly, Deeply” as it played from our radio in the kitchen. I’d wondered how the singer planned to stand on a mountain (of all places!). During long car rides […]
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Vietnamese Folk Poem #1
Yeah, I take Vietnamese classes on Wednesday nights. But . . . aren’t you Vietnamese? * At first, I thought learning Vietnamese in a class setting would only further embarrass me. It’s gonna be full of non-Vietnamese people and they’re going to look down on me. They’ll think, “Why is she in this class?” I always felt […]
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