diaCRITICS
@diacritics-dvan.bsky.social
đ€ 129
đ„ 67
đ 89
magazine of the diasporic vietnamese artists network
In a new essay, Vina Vo imagines her mother's life before the War, visiting Vietnam later in life to see where her mother danced.
diacritics.org/2026/05/danc...
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Dancing in the Rain - diaCRITICS
Two little girls danced outside, trading their afternoon baths for a Saigon shower. Slick warm droplets slithered down their bodies. They wore nothing but their cotton panties. Their bodies, blooming,...
https://diacritics.org/2026/05/dancing-in-the-rain/
1 day ago
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"i feel guilty because in this timeline i am living someone elseâs dream and/or/but wasnât it my dream, too?" Read a new poem by
@bluenguyen.bsky.social
diacritics.org/2026/05/para...
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Parallel Universe Theory - diaCRITICS
i feel guilty because in thistimeline i am living someone elseâsdream and/or/but wasnât it my dream, too? wasnât it my dream first, lungs fillingwith water and/or/but air, thereâs a point in the ocean...
https://diacritics.org/2026/05/parallel-universe-theory/
9 days ago
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blue ÄĂ o nguyenâïœĄÂ°â©
10 days ago
new poem out now with diaCRITICS (
@diacritics-dvan.bsky.social
) thank you diaCRITICS for giving my poem a home! you can read the full poem here:
diacritics.org/2026/05/para...
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Parallel Universe Theory - diaCRITICS
i feel guilty because in thistimeline i am living someone elseâsdream and/or/but wasnât it my dream, too? wasnât it my dream first, lungs fillingwith water and/or/but air, thereâs a point in the ocean...
https://diacritics.org/2026/05/parallel-universe-theory/
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"Neither debt nor duty, I learned that day, could be made up by wads of cash, nor adolescent good will. How swiftly I had mistaken dignity as something to be calculated and exchanged."
diacritics.org/2026/04/mi-g...
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MĂŹ gĂłi lĂĄ bá» Äá» - diaCRITICS
On a humid morning in 1997 in the small town of Há»ng Ngá»± on the border of southern Vietnam and Cambodia, a band of smiling children in red handkerchiefs walked around a frenzied school yard with empty...
https://diacritics.org/2026/04/mi-goi-la-bo-de/
about 1 month ago
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Read "Tri Nhan 004: One of the Lucky Ones," a new science fiction poem by Mylo Lam.
diacritics.org/2026/04/tri-...
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Tri Nhan 004: One of the Lucky Ones - diaCRITICS
Editor's note: This poem is best viewed on desktop. One of the Lucky Ones - Mylo Lam Mylo Lam was born in Vietnam and currently lives in Los Angeles. He and his family are refugees from Cambodia. Mylo...
https://diacritics.org/2026/04/tri-nhan-004-one-of-the-lucky-ones/
about 1 month ago
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Read a new poem by Victoria Thuylinh Pham.
diacritics.org/2026/04/jack...
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Jackfruit - diaCRITICS
Jackfruit sizzle like fleshcarried through thecurves of your mouth / Máșč's voice wrapped in bare hands_______spilling seeds / an extension - from one land_______and an accent mark to another_______about our names giving way and thenreceding_______from Thuylinh to Thuy_______and the nưá»c that never quenches thirstbecause it's never enough and only separates_______this line between_______what I know of
https://diacritics.org/2026/04/jackfruit/
about 2 months ago
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"I was 11 when cancer took my mother and never gave her back."
diacritics.org/2026/03/canc...
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Cancer Took My Mother & Food Was Her Love Language - diaCRITICS
Paired With: BĂșn BĂČ Huáșż & the Taste of EnoughFor When You Need to Feed a VillagePlay Song: âHeal the Worldâ by Michael Jackson Amuse-Bouche: The Hunger That Never Leaves Hunger isnât just about food.I...
https://diacritics.org/2026/03/cancer-took-my-mother-food-was-her-love-language/
2 months ago
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Eric Nguyen
2 months ago
just updated
@diacritics-dvan.bsky.social
's books to review list! am i missing anything? want to review something?
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
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diaCRITICS Books to Review
diaCRITICS Book Review Wishlist Thank you for your interest in reviewing books for diaCRITICS. Below are the books we would love to be reviewed! If youâre interested in reviewing any of these titles ...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/108XhWBLkE1Yzo_5jIdIZeCwOMiTh9PTJJsh4VrF26rc/edit?usp=sharing
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In "Mothernoia", a daughter measures the distance between what her mother wants her to be and who she sees herself as.
diacritics.org/2026/03/moth...
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Mothernoia - diaCRITICS
I am haunted by the quiet suspicion that the woman before me is devising my murder. At the moment, weâve resorted to a game of silence. But she is cunning, calculated, waiting with the prowess of a sn...
https://diacritics.org/2026/03/mothernoia/
2 months ago
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The Offing
3 months ago
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of poet Theo LeGro. To honor their work and writing we are highlighting their poem âAll There Is.â
theoffingmag.com/poetry/kundi...
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Ngá»c ÄáșĄi and the Vietnamese Avant-garde
diacritics.org/2026/03/a-br...
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A Broker in Madness - diaCRITICS
In order to find a new musical language and new forms for songs, I had to deny the official environment of the Vietnamese Government. My goals are: Break the prejudices about musical aesthetic; Mock t...
https://diacritics.org/2026/03/a-broker-in-madness/
3 months ago
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"Singlish is how Singaporeans speak when not watched by the colonial other. Or sometimes, defiantly, when they are."
diacritics.org/2026/03/on-s...
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On Singlish - diaCRITICS
Simi[1] Salah[2] English? There is a particular unease to writing about Singlish in English. Not because the two are incompatible, far from it, but because to write about Singlish in the formal regist...
https://diacritics.org/2026/03/on-singlish/
3 months ago
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"The sun should have set when the bullet grazed by like a stray bird singing its morning song, a sharp metallic note" Read LĂȘ SĂŽng VÄn's "I Am Not Mad," translated by Äáș·ng ThÆĄ ThÆĄ.
diacritics.org/2026/02/i-am...
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I Am Not Mad - diaCRITICS
âI Am Not Madâ is a translation of the Vietnamese poem, âTĂŽi KhĂŽng Giáșnâ by poet LĂȘ SĂŽng VÄn, poignantly inspired by the life of RenĂ©e Nicole Good, an award-winning poet and mother who was fatally sho...
https://diacritics.org/2026/02/i-am-not-mad/
3 months ago
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Read a new poem by Brandon Vu.
diacritics.org/2026/02/what...
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what was that? youâre talking too quickly - diaCRITICS
when you were youngyou were living the sameday in the refugee campuntil you found yourself carryingbaggage from saigon to california you hung on to words toprotect yourselfand i flinched every timeyou...
https://diacritics.org/2026/02/what-was-that-youre-talking-too-quickly/
3 months ago
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ChĂșc mừng nÄm má»i! Read a new Lunar New Year poem by VĂ” Äức Quang.
diacritics.org/2026/02/i-ca...
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I carry you through chinatown - diaCRITICS
Alief, Houston TX I carry you through chinatownon lunar new year's eveâ softly the karaoke bars dieas hostess girls fly to their nests. Andsoju buddies stumble in a line back to their sports carsexhau...
https://diacritics.org/2026/02/i-carry-you-through-chinatown/
3 months ago
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Read a new poem by attic moon.
diacritics.org/2026/01/poet...
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BĂ Ná»iâs Ghost - diaCRITICS
mother and father thoughtthey escaped the whistling missilesbut found it hitched a ridea parasiteclawing out of their stomachs and into their throatsbursting through their mouthsto roar at each other ...
https://diacritics.org/2026/01/poetry-ba-nois-ghost/
4 months ago
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Lit Hub
4 months ago
Äenise HáșĄnh Huỳnh offers a brief history of ICE, in poems.
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Letter From Minnesota: A Brief History of ICE in Poems
The following poems were written over the last decade, up until and including ICEâs occupation of the Twin Cities. * ________________________________________________________  ________________âŠ
https://buff.ly/l6TmuGN
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âOn Healing Land, Birds Perchâ investigates the afterlife of an infamous photo.
diacritics.org/2026/01/viet...
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Viet Film Fest 2025: On Healing Land, Birds Perch - diaCRITICS
During my freshman year of high school, while working on a history assignment, I came across a photograph of the self-immolation of ThĂch QuáșŁng Äức, a Buddhist monk protesting South Vietnamâs regime i...
https://diacritics.org/2026/01/viet-film-fest-2025-on-healing-land-birds-perch/
4 months ago
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Vaddey Ratner
4 months ago
"I think of memory as finite. Itâs personal. Once youâre gone, that memory goes with you. Myth, by contrast, lives beyond you." Today in PEN Transmissions, Vaddey Ratner on memory, narrative history, and storytelling as a means of survival.
#writing
#literature
#art
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Knowing Is a Kind of Pain: An Interview with Vaddey Ratner
Vaddey Ratner on memory, narrative history, and storytelling as a means of survival.
https://pentransmissions.com/2026/01/29/knowing-is-a-kind-of-pain-an-interview-with-vaddey-ratner/
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"I want to tell them, and all Minnesotans: hold on to each other. No turning back."
lithub.com/letter-from-...
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Letter From Minnesota: âThereâs Some Good in This WorldâŠâ
I bought my tickets for the theatrical re-release of The Lord of the Rings movies last year. This was before I knew that life on the weekends would be: clean your house, feed your cat, scoop litterâŠ
https://lithub.com/letter-from-minnesota-theres-some-good-in-this-world/
4 months ago
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English PEN
4 months ago
âI think of memory as finite. Itâs personal. Once youâre gone, that memory goes with you. Myth, by contrast, lives beyond you.â Today in
#PENTransmissions
, Vaddey Ratner on memory, narrative history, and storytelling as a means of survival.
pentransmissions.com/2026/01/29/k...
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Knowing Is a Kind of Pain: An Interview with Vaddey Ratner
Vaddey Ratner on memory, narrative history, and storytelling as a means of survival.
https://pentransmissions.com/2026/01/29/knowing-is-a-kind-of-pain-an-interview-with-vaddey-ratner/
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Read a new poem by Antoinette Luu.
diacritics.org/2026/01/poet...
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Coi Chừng - diaCRITICS
Until age seven, all the boats you knew barrelled througha technicolour sea, a Barbie swinging from the ropeor a pirate of the Caribbean with thatfantastic plastic glow, that airbrushed sea spray. The...
https://diacritics.org/2026/01/poetry-coi-chung/
4 months ago
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VĆ© ÄĂŹnh Giangâs âParallelsâ is not for the faint-hearted.
diacritics.org/2026/01/book...
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Dangerous Games - diaCRITICS
Parallels by VĆ© ÄĂŹnh Giang (English translation by KháșŁi Q. Nguyá» n), the first Vietnamese queer novel to be translated into another language (the French translation by Yves Bouille in 2014), is not a n...
https://diacritics.org/2026/01/book-review-parallels/
5 months ago
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"Motion sickness runs on my motherâs side of the family."
diacritics.org/2025/05/moti...
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Motion Sickness - diaCRITICS
Motion sickness runs on my motherâs side of the family.
https://diacritics.org/2025/05/motion-sickness/
5 months ago
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As we take our yearly December break, a reminder that weâre open to submissions! Visit
diacritics.org/submit/
for more info.
6 months ago
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"If you donât see yourself in literature, you donât feel part of the community, you donât feel part of this world."
diacritics.org/2025/09/inte...
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In Conversation with Aimee Phan - diaCRITICS
Aimee Phan's first book, We Should Never Meet, was published in 2004. A linked short story collection, the book tracks the lives of eight characters across three decades and two continents in the afte...
https://diacritics.org/2025/09/interview-aimee-phan/
6 months ago
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Two grandmothers, two sets of cultural traditions and superstitions.
diacritics.org/2025/11/batt...
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Battle Hymn of the Battleaxe BĂ Ná»is - diaCRITICS
Sitting up during twilight hours holding two bottles to newborn twins forces one to slow down and feel the full brunt of patience with every clock tick of the second hand. With no hands free to scroll...
https://diacritics.org/2025/11/battle-hymn-of-the-battleaxe-ba-nois/
6 months ago
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Vietnamese Czech director DuĆŸan Duong talks with May Ngo about his film âSummer School, 2001.â
diacritics.org/2025/11/inte...
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In Conversation with DuĆŸan Duong - diaCRITICS
DuĆŸan Duongâs debut feature film Summer School, 2001 centres around a Vietnamese family living and working near the Czech-German border selling counterfeit goods at the market. After being sent back t...
https://diacritics.org/2025/11/interview-duzan-duong/
6 months ago
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DÆ°ÆĄng Hưá»ngâs 1991 classic âNo Man Riverâ gets an English translation by Quan Manh Ha and Charles Waugh.
diacritics.org/2025/11/book...
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The Human Cost of War - diaCRITICS
DÆ°ÆĄng Hưá»ngâs No Man River, an award-winning and widely read modern Vietnamese classic, masterfully explores life in rural north Vietnam during the French Indochina War, Vietnam War, and the border wa...
https://diacritics.org/2025/11/book-review-no-man-river/
6 months ago
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Through conversations, Diane Fox presents the human cost of chemical warfare.
diacritics.org/2025/10/book...
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https://diacritics.org/2025/10/book-review-living-with-agent-orange/
7 months ago
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A tale of southern inheritances.
diacritics.org/2025/11/from...
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From South Vietnam to the Bible Belt - diaCRITICS
My childhood home in Texas sits on a street off a major road lined with eight Protestant Christian churches. I know this because I used to count them on the way home from school, wondering as a ten-ye...
https://diacritics.org/2025/11/from-south-vietnam-to-the-bible-belt/
7 months ago
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Kira Josefsson
7 months ago
So nice to see this long review of Quynh Tran's brilliant Shade and Breeze, which was published in my translation last year from Lolli Editions and is still waiting for a US publisher. Thank you
@diacritics-dvan.bsky.social
!
diacritics.org/2025/10/book...
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A Vietnamese Finnish Childhood - diaCRITICS
Shade and Breeze is the debut work of Quynh Tran, a writer and graduate of the prestigious Biskops-Arnös Writers' School in Sweden. The novel is a collection of vignettes centering on a young Vietname...
https://diacritics.org/2025/10/book-review-shade-and
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Quynh Tranâs debut novel opens a rare window into the diasporic Vietnamese experience in Finland.
diacritics.org/2025/10/book...
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A Vietnamese Finnish Childhood - diaCRITICS
Shade and Breeze is the debut work of Quynh Tran, a writer and graduate of the prestigious Biskops-Arnös Writers' School in Sweden. The novel is a collection of vignettes centering on a young Vietname...
https://diacritics.org/2025/10/book-review-shade-and-breeze/
7 months ago
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DÆ°ÆĄng Diá»u Linhâs film is a visual project grounded in northern Vietnamese proverbs and Southeast Asian folklore.
diacritics.org/2025/10/viet...
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Viet Film Fest 2025: Donât Cry, Butterfly - diaCRITICS
Donât Cry, Butterfly (Mưa trĂȘn cĂĄnh bưá»m) is the debut feature film of Vietnamese director DÆ°ÆĄng Diá»u Linh. Her innovative film, where family drama meets horror meets comedy, has enchanted its audienc...
https://diacritics.org/2025/10/viet-film-fest-2025-dont-cry-butterfly/
7 months ago
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The phenomenon of Viá»t Kiá»u returning is nothing new, but what feels different now, however, is the scale, the facile journey, and the dramatic material changes within Vietnam since the early 2000s, writes Vinh Phu Pham.
diacritics.org/2025/10/dear...
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Dear, Fellow Viá»t Kiá»u - diaCRITICS
I recently traveled to CĂĄt TiĂȘn National Park with my partner, an evolutionary biologist, in search of what Vietnamâs natural beauty still had to offer. This park, one of the largest tropical forests ...
https://diacritics.org/2025/10/dear-fellow-viet-kieu/
7 months ago
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This year, Viet Film Fest featured eleven short film sets. diaCRITICS contributing writer Cathy Duong highlights a number of short films across these brilliantly curated sets.
diacritics.org/2025/10/viet...
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Viet Film Fest 2025: Select Shorts - diaCRITICS
This year, Viet Film Fest featured eleven short film sets spanning themes from âPhim Femmeâ that expands Vietnamese femininity with queer narratives, to âEthe(real)â where supernatural forces and spec...
https://diacritics.org/2025/10/viet-film-fest-2025-select-shorts/
7 months ago
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âIf you donât see yourself in literature, you donât feel part of the community, you donât feel part of this world.â
@aimeephan.bsky.social
chats with Melina Kritikopoulos about her new YA novel, âThe Lost Queen.â
diacritics.org/2025/09/inte...
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In Conversation with Aimee Phan - diaCRITICS
Aimee Phan's first book, We Should Never Meet, was published in 2004. A linked short story collection, the book tracks the lives of eight characters across three decades and two continents in the afte...
https://diacritics.org/2025/09/interview-aimee-phan/
8 months ago
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Tin House
8 months ago
There's still time to apply to the 2026 Tin House Winter Online Workshop! Applications close today, October 6th. Don't miss out on your chance to expand your writing community and level up your craft at this fully remote experience! Apply here:
tinhouseworkshop.submittable.com/submit/17761...
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Electric Literature
8 months ago
Souvankham Thammavongsa and Apoorva Bradshaw-Mittal discuss her forthcoming novel âPick a Color,â the art of absence, making what is real fiction, and keeping the reader wanting for more.
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https://buff.ly/oGUIkxE
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Eric Nguyen
8 months ago
@knguyen.bsky.social
on
@thedailyshow.com
!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dsp...
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Kevin Nguyen - âMá»č Documents: A Novelâ | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DspFLUTmXw
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Read a new poem by ThĂĄi HĂ , with art by Lien Truong.
diacritics.org/2025/09/poet...
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Sugar Hunger - diaCRITICS
After Jihyun Yunâs âWar Soupâ and a recipe for sponge cake, a poem for Lien Truongâs cake paintings *** Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, butter and line the base of two cake tins with bakin...
https://diacritics.org/2025/09/poetry-sugar-hunger/
8 months ago
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New on diaCRITICS: a short story by Äáș·ng ThÆĄ ThÆĄ, translated by the author and Thuy Dinh.
diacritics.org/2025/09/fict...
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Opening the Future - diaCRITICS
Translated by Äáș·ng ThÆĄ ThÆĄ and Thuy Dinh, from the short story âMá» TÆ°ÆĄng Laiâ by Äáș·ng ThÆĄ ThÆĄ. It is well-known among Vietnamese writers of the diaspora that Äáș·ng ThÆĄ ThÆĄ comes from an illustrious yet...
https://diacritics.org/2025/09/fiction-opening-the-future/
8 months ago
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Vietnamese Amerasians face challenges both in Vietnam and in the diaspora. Amerasians Without Borders founder Jimmy Miller wants to help.
diacritics.org/2025/09/viet...
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Vietnamese Amerasians Today - diaCRITICS
During the Vietnam War, thousands of Vietnamese Amerasian children were born. Vietnamese Amerasians, the children of American fathers and Vietnamese mothers, encompassed a wide array of ethnicities. T...
https://diacritics.org/2025/09/vietnamese-amerasians-today-jimmy-miller/
9 months ago
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Ocean Vuongâs sophomore novel is a heart-aching story of working class grit and comradery in the face of exploitation, violence, and neglect.
diacritics.org/2025/09/book...
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Resisting Bleak Realities - diaCRITICS
âIf you must know anything, know that the hardest task is to live only once.â â Ocean Vuong, from âImmigrant Haibunâ The line from âImmigrant Haibunâ captures the tragedy of reckoning with survivorâs ...
https://diacritics.org/2025/09/book-review-the-emperor-of-gladness/
9 months ago
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After a summer break, diaCRITICS is back! And weâre proud to introduce you to our new website:
www.diacritics.org
.
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9 months ago
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Prairie Schooner
9 months ago
To mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we're sharing
@emtran.bsky.social
's essay "Miss Saigon," originally published in our Spring 2017 issue. Read the full essay along with E.M. Tran's reflection on our blog:
prairieschooner.unl.edu/digital-scho...
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Malarkey
10 months ago
Vi got her copies already and is signing 100 of them as we speak.
malarkeybooks.com/store/myarde...
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My Ardent Love for the Pencil, a poetry collection by Vi Khi Nao â Malarkey
September 2025 My Ardent Love for the Pencil moves like a sloth in silk: slowly, precisely, gorgeously. What is it to exist in such a way that life, love, and literature are linked so tightly...
https://malarkeybooks.com/store/myardentloveforthepencil
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The 3rd Thing
10 months ago
Now available to preorder! Dao Stromâs TENDER REVOLUTIONS/YELLOW SONGS đâš 4 books & an LP in whatever combination your heart desires.
the3rdthing.press/product/tend...
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Tender Revolutions / Yellow Songs â The 3rd Thing
https://the3rdthing.press/product/tender-revolutions-yellow-songs/?mc_cid=928483f7ae&mc_eid=a43100c9d7
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An Uong
10 months ago
Is this⊠my first Bluesky post?? Absolutely honored to have an essay out now with
@aaww-nyc.bsky.social
!! Thank you to the team for giving this piece a home
aaww.org/how-to-cook-...
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How to Cook for a Mom Who Can No Longer Cook
My mom and I share a common language in food. Even at the peak of our most destructive and explosive fights, we would pause to eat together.
https://aaww.org/how-to-cook-for-a-mom-who-can-no-longer-cook/
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Lit Hub
10 months ago
@nguyenterry.bsky.social
explores faith, desire, and the literary landscape of conversion experiences.
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Searching For Divine Love: On the Literary Landscape of Conversion Experiences
Last year, on an unseasonably warm November day, I went to mass. The idea came to me one afternoon, a random stranger knocking on the mindâs door. Not dangerous or unwelcome, but certainly unexpectâŠ
https://buff.ly/mkw99An
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