Vietnamese-American author and Pulitzer Prize winner whose novels explore refugee trauma, displacement, and the legacy of empires.
Writing is an attempt to rescue a moment from oblivion. Every story I record is a story that will not be lost. It is an act of resistance.
To control a person's memory is to control their future. That is why history is rewritten, stories are forgotten. A writer must be a guardian of memory.
Every revolutionary is a traitor to the enemy. Every loyal citizen is a traitor to the revolution. Morality always depends on whose side you choose.
Colonization is not just a political phenomenon, it is psychological. We internalize the power of the colonizer, desire their approval. Literature is a way to break free from this dependence.
The history of Vietnam is a history of voice. Whose voice is heard, whose is silenced? The Sympathizer is a novel about finding one's own voice in a world of imperial silence.
Living between cultures is not having two faces, it is living in a state of permanent translation. We experience two deaths: the death of the home we left, and birth in a new land.
Following a character into the next chapter is a question about time. Can he remain the same if the world has changed? A sequel breaks the hero, remakes him, kills his former self.