Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War: a conversation with Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai & Alexandra Huynh

Born into the Việt Nam War, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai grew up witnessing the war’s devastation. She has worked with the victims of war and veterans of all sides. Her award-winning novels, The Mountains Sing and Dust Child, as well as her latest book – the poetry collection The Color of Peace – document the war’s impact, the power of love and forgiveness, the pathway to healing and peace, as well as Việt Nam as a country with more than four thousand years of history and culture. Come to hear her speak about the experiences that shaped her as a writer, her research and creative process, her mission to decolonize literature in English about Việt Nam, and much more.
Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai will be in conversation with student and poet Alexandra Huynh. We will also be answering audience questions.
Lunch provided with RSVP. Please direct questions to Thaomi Michelle Dinh at tmdinh@stanford.edu.
Co-sponsored by Asian American Studies, Asian American Activities Center, Asian American Art Initiative, Asian American Research Center at Stanford, and Stanford Vietnamese Student Association.
About Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai:
Born and raised in Việt Nam, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the author of thirteen books in Vietnamese and English, most recently the global bestselling novels The Mountains Sing and Dust Child, and the forthcoming poetry book The Color of Peace. Her writing has been translated into more than twenty-five languages and has received Runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, the International Book Award, the BookBrowse Best Debut Award, as well as the Lannan Literary Fellowship in Fiction. She is the translator of eight books and was named by Forbes Việt Nam as one of 20 inspiring women of 2021. She has a Ph.D in Creative Writing. For more information: www.nguyenphanquemai.com
About Alexandra Huynh:
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.