Launch Party for “Untethered States: Literature of the Vietnamese Diaspora”

Words Without Borders is proud to celebrate one of our latest issues with a free public virtual launch! Join us on July 24 to hear from seven of the authors and translators included within “Untethered States: Literature of the Vietnamese Diaspora,” guest edited by Thuy Dinh. This issue presents prose and poetry in translation by five writers of the Vietnamese diaspora, as well as a contextual introduction by Dinh and art by Trần Trọng Vũ. We will hear works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction read in both the original Vietnamese and in their translations to English, as well as a brief conversation with featured readers Thuy Dinh, Quynh Vo, Đặng Thơ Thơ, Trương Vũ, Thuận, Phương Anh, and Nguyễn Đức Tùng. We look forward to celebrating with you!

Tech and accessibility information

This event will be hosted on Zoom, which is available for download here. You'll receive the link to the Zoom meeting the day of the event via email. Your display name should match the name you use to register for the event. You can change your Zoom display name by following these instructions.

In-app closed captioning and a full transcript will be available for this event. While in the meeting, you can toggle this on and off by clicking the “Live Transcription/CC” button at the bottom of your screen. You will not be able to turn on your own audio and video for this Zoom event. ASL interpretation is available upon request. Please email Anna at events@wordswithoutborders.org before Monday, July 14.

About the readers

Thuy Dinh is a bilingual critic, literary translator, coeditor of the Vietnamese webzine Da Màu, and editor-at-large for the Vietnamese Diaspora at Asymptote Journal. She is among twenty-eight authors featured in The Colors of April, an anthology of fiction on the global Vietnamese experience marking the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Her essays and translations have appeared in Asymptote, NPR Books, Manoa, diaCritics, Prairie Schooner, Rain Taxi Review of Books, and Amerasia, among others. Green Rice, her co-translation of the select poetry of Lâm Thị Mỹ Dạ, was published by Curbstone Press in 2005, and nominated for the Kiriyama Prize in 2006.

Quynh H. Vo is a literary scholar, writer, and translator (Vietnamese/English) based in Washington, D.C., where she teaches and researches global Asian literature and culture at American University. She is a co-author (with Dr. Tung Bui, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa) of The Making of Little Saigon: Narratives of Nostalgia, (Dis)enchantments, and Aspirations (Hamilton Books, 2024) and a co-translator (with Dr. Quan Manh Ha, University of Montana) of Longings: Contemporary Fiction by Vietnamese Women Writers (Texas Tech University Press, 2024).

Đặng Thơ Thơ is a novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. She is the author of the novel Ai (2024), and two collections of short stories, The Winter Exhibition (Phòng Triển Lãm Mùa Đông; Văn Mới, 2002) and Possibilities (Khả Thể; Người Việt, 2014). Đặng is co-founder and editor in chief of the Vietnamese literary e-zine Da Màu, and president of the nonprofit Da Màu Foundation. Her work has been published in many Vietnamese magazines and publications, and she is featured in the anthology Beyond Borders (Da Màu Press, 2024), showcasing stories from the Vietnamese diaspora. Đặng lives in California and is an active member of the LGBTQI community.

Sơn Hồng Trương, writing as Trương Vũ, is an engineer, author, and editor. Trương left Vietnam by boat in 1976 and settled in the US, where he worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland from 1980 until his retirement in 2005. Trương has worked as the co-editor for the Vietnam Review alongside Huynh Sanh Thong and Hoang Ngoc Hien, and co-edited (with Wayne Karlin and Le Minh Khue) The Other Side of Heaven (Post-War Fiction by Vietnamese and American Writers), published by Curbstone Press in 1995. As an author, Trương has published anthologies of essays, including Duoi Bong Hoang Hon (Nhan Anh, 2019) and Truong Vu Bang Huu & Van Chuong (Ngon Ngu, 2025).

Thuận was born in 1967 in Hanoi. She studied at universities in Russia and France, and now lives in Paris. Writing in Vietnamese and French, she is the author of ten novels. Chinatown and Elevator in Saigon were translated into English and published by New Directions. She is a recipient of the Writers’ Union Prize, the highest award in Vietnamese literature. One of the New Yorker best books of 2022, her novel Chinatown was the winner of the 2023 National Translation Award in prose.

Phương Anh is a translator and writer from Hà Nội. They mainly translate contemporary literature from Vietnam and its francophone diaspora, with works featured in The Offing, Asymptote, Modern Poetry in Translation, PR&TA, and Here Was Once the Sea: An Anthology of Southeast Asian Eco-Writing. In 2024, they took part in NCW Visible Communities Virtual residency. Besides, they work part-time with Tilted Axis Press and volunteer with An Việt Archives.

Nguyễn Đức Tùng, born in Quảng Trị, Central Vietnam, is a Vietnamese Canadian poet, literary critic, translator, and physician based in Vancouver, British Columbia. After fleeing Vietnam as a boat person, he settled in Canada in the 1980s and graduated from McMaster University. He specialized in general and emergency medicine, and completed residencies at the University of Toronto and University of British Columbia. He has published Những Câu Chuyện về Sức Khỏe (Stories on health) (2003); Đối Thoại Văn Chương với Trần Nhuận Minh (Literary conversations with Trần Nhuận Minh) (2012); and Thơ Cần Thiết Cho Ai (Who needs poetry: essays and criticism) (2015). In addition, he has edited the following poetry anthologies: Thơ Đến Từ Đâu (Where does poetry come from) (2010) and Bốn Mươi Năm Thơ Việt Hải Ngoại (Forty years of Vietnamese poetry in exile) (2017). His fiction, memoirs, and essays have appeared on several Vietnamese literary websites, such as Da Màu (Colored skin), Tiền Vệ (Vanguard), Văn Việt (Vietnamese arts and letters), and Diễn Đàn Thế Kỷ (Century forum).

About Words Without Borders

Words Without Borders is the premier destination for a global literary conversation. Founded in 2003, our mission is to cultivate global awareness by expanding access to international writing and creating a bridge between readers, writers, and translators. Our digital magazine offers unparalleled access to the world’s literary voices, and we are committed to centering writers in indigenous, endangered, and other world languages that are too often marginalized.Our education program, WWB Campus, brings global literature into hundreds of classrooms, offering free access to stories from around the world; multimedia curricular resources that bring literature to life; and professional support for educators. Each year, WWB organizes free virtual and in-person events with international authors, translators, and critics, providing a space for readers to engage directly with the perspectives we publish.

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