Viet Film Fest 2026: Ky Nam Inn
In his sophomore feature film Quán Kỳ Nam (Ky Nam Inn), Vietnamese American director Leon Lê brings another tale of Saigon in the 1980s to the big screen. While his debut film, Song Lang, showcased the second golden age of cải lương (Vietnamese opera) through a queer love story between a singer and a debt […]
Viet Film Fest 2026: A Little Dream of Me
The romantic comedy and musical, Cảm Ơn Người Đã Thức Cùng Tôi (A Little Dream of Me; literal translation, Thank You for Staying Up with Me), directed by Chung Chí Công, makes its US debut at this year’s Viet Film Fest opening night. A Little Dream of Me opened in Vietnam this February and has […]
“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.
“It Can Be Half-True While Being All Wrong”: A Conversation with Hung Q. Tu
Much had to do with physically leaving San Francisco and the poetry scene in the early aughts. That was a period of extreme gentrification where block after block was seemingly falling to this phenomenon as if they were dominoes and I found myself among the casualties. Looking at where San Francisco is now, those days seem rather leisurely in its pace.
“Pink Is Raw”: A Conversation with Luu Dieu Van
The art of translation is like having two separate brains. When I’m translating or reading, there is always another brain running in the background. A temporary state of split personality disorder is extremely helpful in poetry.
“All These Personas That We Have”: A Conversation with Jane Pek
Deputy Editor Sydney Van To talks to Jane Pek about the detective story, the future of technology, and our social structures
“Comma, They’re Dead”: A Conversation with Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint
Deputy Editor Sydney Van To talks to Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint about Burmese cosmology, endings and beginnings, nationalism, and literary representation.
“The Sinister Undertones Underneath the Undertones”: A Conversation with Mai Der Vang
Deputy Editor Sydney Van To talks to Mai Der Vang about documentary poetics, Hmong epistemology, and community building.
“Metaphor is a shelter”: A Conversation with Truong Tran
I saw myself like it was an out-of-body experience and I saw the silence that I existed in. As I stood at front of a classroom, teaching my students how to enact their voice and claim their power through their voices. And there I was: silent and living a lie.
Book Review: The Beginning of Water
Tran Le Khanh’s poetry amazes with what it achieves in the space of four lines.
Book Review: A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure
The collection’s purpose—and indeed, the presence of Nguyen’s mother makes this collection feel more purpose-driven than preceding volumes, as the multitudinous perspectives of each poem accumulate into a wondrous sprawl—is to nourish the reader with tales of Diệp’s daring as a young woman and flying motorcycle artist before having left Vietnam.
Book Review: Reenactments
Hai-Dang Phan, however, is not interested in simply pathologizing his parents; nor does he pretend that he can be an adequate storyteller of their pasts. Rather, Phan lingers within the liminality of reenactments, not just as an imperfect portal into history, but as a mysterious realm in its own right.
Book Review: Paper Bells
Phan Nhiên Hạo reminds us that one does not have to write in English in order to be an American poet, nor does one have to publish in Vietnam in order to be a Vietnamese poet.