Thank you so much for The Old Village Road. It’s such a soulful book. How was the process of writing for you?
The Old Village Road is a collection of short stories, some are autobiographical and some are fictionalized to create the distance I need when they are too close to my heart. I try to capture the essence of Đường Xưa Lối Củ, a song that Vietnamese of my generation know and love. It’s like Eterna Saudade, the Portuguese words for deep longing that cannot be faithfully translated to English. My stories are about going back and looking back, a universal feeling shared by immigrants and refugees, but also all humans who search for the love and home that they can never find again.
We got the great pleasure of publishing your original memoir as well, Skinny Woman in a Straw Hat. In the three years between these two books, has your perspective changed?
The stories in my first book captured my raw emotions of returning home after 20 years to rediscover my love for the people and the land. It was gratifying that they resonated with many readers from different backgrounds through the reviews and feedback.
Linda Thai, a trauma therapist and daughter of Vietnamese refugees told me that “This is the book I have been looking for” as she wished her parents could tell her about their traumatic lives, but they can’t. Although there have been many books about the Vietnam war from American perspective as well as beautiful works by younger Vietnamese Americans, there is a gap in the literature for stories from my generation, those who grew up during the Vietnam War and are still traumatized by it.
Linda also taught me that trauma is not just the results from violent acts. It is also about losses and wanting things you can’t have. I have not been a victim of the former because I was among the lucky few who went overseas to study before the fall of Saigon, but I know for certain I still deal with the latter.
It sounds like your connections in Vietnam and Australia are deepening as your stories go out to the world. What relationships are alive these days and in more regular contact?
I was a student in Australia in 1973 when the Paris Accords were signed and America and her allies drew down troops from the Vietnam. While the U.S. walked away from it and continued to punish the new regime after the fall of Saigon for 20 more years, Australia did something amazing: establishing diplomatic ties with their former “enemy” of North Vietnam right away. I remember joining all the South Vietnamese in Canberra to protest that action at the time. Due to that remarkable decision that Australia made back then, they have had more than 50 years of collaboration with Vietnam, for which I am grateful.
Because of that long-term relationship, my Colombo Plan cohort in Australia had been active in humanitarian assistance through the work of the Vietnam Foundation for the last 30 years. I have recently joined in to help with projects building bridges in the inundated areas of the Mekong Delta and tutoring high-school children with English learning.
And as you look ahead, what is the next writing project? We are among your loyal readers, honored to be with you on this journey.
I am beginning to work on a full-length novel based on the life of my mother and told from her perspective. Although it is focused on one person, the story can be about many Vietnamese women of her time. Fictionalized to create necessary distance, the story is faithful to the historical events that she had witnessed. Born during the French colonial time, she saw their defeat and withdrawal, the severing of Vietnam into North and South that resulted a devastating civil war, the escalation of American involvement and final retreat, and the broken lives of survivors after the fall of Saigon.
This book is also about my people and the land, and the universal longing we all have for peace, love and home.