diaCRITICS

16/09/2025

Vietnamese Amerasians face challenges both in Vietnam and in the diaspora. Amerasians Without Borders founder Jimmy Miller wants to help.

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. They had white, Black, Native American, and Latino fathers, among others. Some were conceived out of....

09/09/2025

Ocean Vuong’s sophomore novel is a heart-aching story of working class grit and comradery in the face of exploitation, violence, and neglect.

“If you must know anything, know that the hardest task is to live only once.” — Ocean Vuong, from “Immigrant Haibun” The line from “Immigrant Haibun” captures the tragedy of reckoning with survivor’s guilt in adolescence, and its reappearance as the opening line of The Emperor of Gla...

05/09/2025

After a summer break, diaCRITICS is back! And we’re proud to introduce you to our new website: www.diacritics.org

08/07/2025

"Reading 'The Family Recipe' by Carolyn Huynh is like sitting with a Vietnamese cousin in a cafe while she catches you up on the latest family drama—lots of laughing and gasps of 'Trời ơi…' with every update. After the success of her debut novel 'The Fortunes of Jaded Women' starring the hilarious Dương sisters in Orange County, California, Huynh now turns to the rambunctious Trần family of Bellaire, the Little Saigon of Houston, Texas."

Read Cathy Duong's review of 'The Family Recipe' by Carolyn Huynh: https://dvan.org/2025/06/book-review-the-family-recipe/

30/06/2025

Read a new short story by Vũ Trọng Hiếu. https://dvan.org/2025/06/brother-hungs-teapot/

24/06/2025

"For decades, literature on the Vietnam War published in the US has often bifurcated into two distinct streams—those written in English by diasporic authors, and those by Vietnamese writers in English translation. By constellating voices from both within and beyond Vietnam, this book forges a literary bridge, offering a prismatic view of a shared, fractured history. Regardless of origin, language, or political legacy, these authors speak to one another across the chasm of war, inviting readers into an empathetic reckoning with sorrow, resilience, and survival."

Read Hồ Thị Vân Anh's review of "The Colors of April."

https://dvan.org/2025/05/book-review-the-colors-of-april/

16/06/2025

"The war never happened and Saigon
never changed its name.
Bố Mẹ are lounging in neon plastic chairs, he sips
cà phê sữa đá while she spoons chè ba màu."

Read "In Another Life," a new poem by Thi Nguyen.

Photo by Horatio Nguyen.

https://dvan.org/2025/05/in-another-life/

13/06/2025

"[T]here is no single tradition of Vietnamese diasporic literature, but rather overlapping perspectives that reflect both historical circumstances and phases of migration, during and after the Cold War."

The spring issue of Words Without Borders, edited by Thuy Dinh, highlights prose and poetry in translation by five writers of the Vietnamese diaspora.

This issue presents writing in translation by five writers of the Vietnamese diaspora, as well as an introduction by guest editor Thuy Dinh.

12/06/2025

On 15 April 2025, Riverside Theatres presented “The Things We Carry" featuring Annabella Luu, Thang Dac Luong, Antoinette Luu, Chris Tran, and diaCRITICS Contributing Editor Sheila Ngoc Pham.

Read their conversation: https://dvan.org/2025/06/the-things-we-carry-and-how-were-healing/

10/06/2025

"For the approaching 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end, I reflect on whether this date—or others—holds significance for the Montagnard Degar community in the United States.

My mother married an American and came to this country soon after April 30, 1975. But her experience does not represent the broader Montagnard Degar community, many of whom started their journey to the United States in refugee camps before resettling in North Carolina beginning in the mid-1980s.

I’m part of chat groups of young, first- and second-generation Montagnard Degar Americans. So, I asked if they knew of anniversary events — or whether this date might have significance to their families. One said that Southeast Asian American advocacy organizations would mark the moment. Others said the day would pass unnoticed, even by family members who fought alongside Americans."

Art by Hoan Rahlan.

https://dvan.org/2025/05/does-the-montagnard-diaspora-need-a-juneteenth/

09/06/2025

"My family fled Vietnam on the very last day—April 30th, at the final possible hour. That morning we were all huddled in Bác Loan’s house. He wasn’t there. After much cajoling on the part of his family, he’d reluctantly boarded a plane to America ahead of the Fall. Despite possibly being the most targeted by invading forces, his home, outfitted for the worst, offered us the best shelter. Most of the world knew him as 'Brigadier General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan,' the subject of Eddie Adams’ photograph, 'Saigon Ex*****on.' Though venerated in South Vietnam, he was feared and misunderstood everywhere else. I only knew him as 'Bác Loan.'"

Photo by Eddie Adams.

https://dvan.org/2025/05/we-only-lose-if-we-forget/