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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

@nguyen_p_quemai

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Internationally best-selling author of THE MOUNTAINS SING and DUST CHILD by @algonquinbooks (US) & @OneworldNews (UK). Represented by @StevensonPfarr

Vietnam
https://t.co/hcu55zJcbZ
Joined September 2019
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
It has taken me a life time, but here they are: my book babies in English. I have cried, laughed, rejoiced when writing them. I was broken by writing them, but I was also healed by writing them. Thank you for reading & being part of this healing journey.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
To prevent Covid infection, many Vietnamese workers have been living, working, sleeping in their factories. Their sacrifices are crucial for our global supply chain. I hope rich countries will share vaccines so these workers can see their families while keeping their jobs.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Breaking news! OCEAN VUONG has written the script for the film adaptation of his novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, to be produced by @A24
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
While Western countries have wasted countless vaccine doses, people in Southeast Asia are dying and fighting for a chance to get a vaccine. We can't choose our birth places, but we can choose to make this world more fair and humane.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Decolonising literature takes one step at a time & I consider it a signigicant step when I was able to include this note in my recent New York Times essay "Read Your Way Through Hanoi". Grateful to editors of @nytimesbooks for their kind support 🙏
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
If you watch #Da5Bloods , please read a book written from the Vietnamese perspective. Hollywood movies have used Vietnamese people as a background for the American stories for too long, but you don't have to accept it. You can fight for the representation of Vietnamese stories.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
In 2012, I decided to quit my salary-earning job to stay home and try to become a writer. It was the most crazy decision and I doubted myself countless times. Eleven years later, I saw my book on the front window display of a prestigious bookstore, in the very heart of Milan😭😭
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
My grandfather nearly lost his life working at a French rubber plantation, being exploited by the French. I wish he would know that his granddaughter's novel, The Mountains Sing, which includes horrific acts by the French colonists, would eventually be translated into French😭😭
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Many players of Việt Nam's Women Soccer Team have had to do all types of jobs from waittressing to selling products online. They had to overcome many obstacles to qualify for the World Cup. I celebrate their determination & fierce pursuit
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Women’s World Cup 2023 team guides part 20: Vietnam

Mai Duc Chung’s debutants are in a tough group, drawn with both 2019 finalists, but the Vietnamese game is on the up

www.theguardian.com
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
At 18 years old, I came to Australia as a student, barely able to speak & understand any English, and now, my literary work is featured on a top newspaper that I used to read, to be able to learn English: The Age! For any writer out there: keep trying because it's never too late.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
OMG, Forbes Vietnam just named me as one of 20 most inspiring Vietnamese women! How did that happen?
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
This girl from Việt Nam and her first novel in English, THE MOUNTAINS SING, just won the Runner-Up for the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize in Fiction! Grateful to my mother and the women before me who show me that our stories deserve to be heard.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Hollywood often used Vietnamese people as background to the Western story and now, with The Sympathizer TV adaption, Vietnamese people are claiming our narratives. So excited to see the leading roles are played by people of Vietnamese descent who speak Vietnamese on screen.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Today, my very elderly parents (82 and 78 years old) and living in Việt Nam, finally received their first dose of a Covid vaccine😭. It may not mean much to people living in Western countries who have had easy access to vaccines, but to our family, this means everything.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Please pray for Vietnam. Flooding in the middle region has killed many people. The man in the picture just lost his wife and baby. She was in labor and a canoe was bringing her to the hospital when it capsized. The strong current swept her away and her body found many hours later
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
I asked my publishers to retain the diacritics of my name (Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai) as I would rather sell less books than show disrespect to the Vietnamese language. And look: readers cheer me on: #DUSTCHILD has become a bestseller in Aotearoa-New Zealand!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
5 years
Hi #WritingCommunity , I fought my whole life for a chance to become a writer. Now I must fight #coronavirus situation to get my book into readers' hands. Please help retweet and add in your comment books of writers whose tours have been cancelled. Thanks
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Happy Lunar New Year! For Vietnamese people, 2023 is the New Year of the Cat. This should be a good year since cats are smart, quick, gentle, alert and loving 😍
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Vietnamese literature is rarely translated therefore I am delighted to share that a top Vietnamese writer, Bảo Ninh, acclaimed author of The Sorrow of War, has a new book in English, after 30 years. This book is a gift to the literary world.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Is this real? I think I am dreaming. Thank you reviewers and editors for embracing a novel from a faraway Việt Nam, a novel written in a second language, a novel born out of pain and trauma but filled with hope for kindness, healing and peace. A novel I could not help but write
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Here are 60 books by Vietnamese and diasporic Vietnamese suggested by @SimonHaisell The list includes fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children's books. More details:
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
I finished writing my second novel! Can't wait to take my readers back to Vietnam via this new book, which already took me six years to write!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Việt Nam is too often seen as a war yet we are a country with more than 4,000 years of history and culture. Delighted to present this essay about the literary landscape of our capital city, Hà Nội. Grateful thanks to Juliana Barbassa & @nytimesbooks :
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Read Your Way Through Hanoi (Published 2023)

Hanoi, long a city of storytellers, has been devastated and reborn time and time again. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai guides readers through the literature that has played a part in that renewal.

www.nytimes.com
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Pulitzer Prize Winner Viet Thanh Nguyen is a true artist whose forthcoming memoir is ground-breaking, moving and unforgettable. This book is an act of decolonisation & I'm delighted to see Vietnamese words written with full diacrical marks, and Vietnam is written as Việt Nam!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Today (30th of April) marks the 47th anniversary of the end of the Việt Nam War. This photograph which captures the reunion of a mother and her son tells a thousand stories😭
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Thrilled to announce that my brilliant publisher @AlgonquinBooks will publish my second novel, set in South Vietnam, told in the voices of four people. It took me six years and I'm so excited to take readers to Vietnam via this book!!! Grateful to everyone who has supported me🙏
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
It's the first time that Việt Nam is qualified for the Soccer World Cup and it's the Women's Soccer Team! I am so proud of these women and will be cheering for them!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
THE MOUNTAINS SING just won the International Book Awards, in TWO categories: Literary Fiction and Multicultural Fiction! More than 2,000 entries were submitted to the Awards. Thanks so much to the judges & those who believed in me from the very beginning
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
My novel is sold out in many bookshops in Australia and my event in the UK, with Lancaster University is also sold out. What is happening???????? 😭😭😭😭
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
From a street seller in Việt Nam, I've overcome countless challenges to become a writer in English. I look back on this journey with tears in my eyes. Sincere thanks to anyone who has supported me. Here is my life & writing journey: :
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
10 months
This is Juliet Mabey, my UK publisher who just won her third Booker Prize by publishing @paullynchwriter 's novel. During my UK book tour, she drove me, hosted me at her home, carried my luggage, cooked for me. What a special person she is!The literary world is lucky to have her
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
This seems like a fairytale: a girl from the rice fields of Việt Nam has just been featured on two full pages of La Stampa Newspaper in Italy where her novel, THE MOUNTAINS SING continues to be a best-seller (ranked number 7 in foreign fiction this week). Thank you all so much❤
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
I have just been evacuated from Indonesia to Germany. There was a terrible commotion on the plane, then the captain announced: "A passenger brought durian on board! Pleas get rid of it now!!!" For a moment, the fear for the durian's smell overwhelmed the fear for the virus😅😅😅
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
An inspirational story!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Pictures that are still painful to look at 47 years after the Việt Nam War: Phan Thị Kim Phúc, on June 8 1972 as she ran naked on a road after being severely burned by napalm, and Phan Thị Kim Phúc now. Photos by Nick Út. #NoWar
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Happy Birthday to the UK edition of #DUSTCHILD ! After seven years of hard work, seeing it for the first time in a bookshop was exhilarating! This book is a love letter to anyone who's been bullied, discriminated against or looked down upon. I wrote it because I was bullied😭😭
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
I recommended The Sympathizer by @viet_t_nguyen to a good friend and look, her daughter loved the book! The Sympathizer should be read and studied and then re-read later with its forthcoming sequel The Committed. Have you got your copy?
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Once upon a time, while I laboured on rice fields and sold things on streets, I escaped into stories I made up in my mind & dreamed of becoming a writer. Now, my novel, #TheMountainsSing just won @BookBrowse 's BEST DEBUT AWARD for 2020! 😭😭😭😭 🙏🙏🙏🙏
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Today, 30 April 2023 marks the 48th anniversary of the end of the Việt Nam War. Yet the war still goes on for millions of innocent civilians in Việt Nam, Laos and Cambodia. I continue to call for compensation and justice for victims of Agent Orange
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
For a long time, Hollywood has used Vietnamese people as a background for the American stories. Vietnamese and diasporic Vietnamese artists must take back our narrative. Please support our effort by joining this timely and important event:
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Today is Agent Orange Awareness Day - the 60th anniversary of the start of the American sprayings of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. 60 years & these mothers and their children still live with the consequences, their questions remained unanswered. Photos by @ThomasBoVietnam
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Vietnamese people find many creative ways to use our motorbikes. We transport, we love, we live, we sleep on motorbikes. These wonderful sketches are done by the French artist Fred Campana. Are you surprised that there are over 65 million registered motorbikes in Việt Nam?
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Rains and floods can't stop love blossoming. A recent picture of a Vietnamese wedding. The groom is pushing the bride toward their new home on a basket boat.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
If you are friends with authors, please buy our books because that's what friends do for each other. I have a friend who asked for signed copies of my novel & did not offer to pay. It's not a matter of money, it's countless hours of work and creativity that should be acknowledged
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Please help pray for my beloved Aunt Nhã. She survived the Vietnam War with shrapnels still burried in her lungs. Those lungs are now struggling to breathe because of Covid. She's in intensive care. She lives in Vietnam & has been waiting to get her second vaccine shot😭
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
My parents never had a chance to attend university & this is for them. For the many extra hours they labored so I could continue school. For the countless times they told me girls needed education as much as boys. For the books they bought. For their love.
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Lancaster graduate wins prestigious fellowship for novel - Lancaster University

A Lancaster graduate has been awarded a literary fellowship for the novel she wrote during her time at the University.

www.lancaster.ac.uk
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Today, we commemorate the 46th anniversary of the end of the Việt Nam War. I pray for the millions of lives lost, for the many people still missing, for the millions of people injured, traumatised, displaced. I pray for peace and healing, for humans to love other humans more.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
A life changing book about how to write against the dominant culture, against forgeting, against colonialism, for equality, humanity and peace. NOTHING EVER DIES by @viet_t_nguyen is such a brilliant book of criticism, every writer, every critic, every art creator should read it!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
This can only happen in Vietnam: a family stopped in the middle of a highway to have a hot pot on the emergency lane 😅. They were fined $500 by the police. Picture published by VnExpress.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
What a shock! My novel & first book in English, THE MOUNTAINS SING, is a finalist of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize which celebrates the power of literature to promote peace, social justice, & global understanding. THRILLED to be in such brilliant company
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Tim Page died yesterday. As a photo journalist, he bravely documented the horror of the Việt Nam War and got injured several times. He is gone but his photos live on, bearing witness to a terrifying time that we should never forget. R.I.P #TimPage
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
The use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War is a war crime. Two many generations have suffered. Let us do more for the victims. It's a moral responsibility.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Thanks everyone who sent me good thoughts and encouragement. I successfully defended my thesis. I feel like I'm flying!!!!! Thank you so much to my brilliant supervisor @ZoeFLambert and @lancaster_words for giving me the chance to research and write my second novel via this PhD!
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Due to our long history of being colonized, the West has reduced Vietnam to the Vietnam War, but we're a country rich in culture & traditions. With this essay, I dare say that our New Year traditions are more colorful than those of some Western countries.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
My essay on the horror of Agent Orange has just been published by @nytopinion , edited by @juliehoangmy . Please read and help share it. More needs to be done for the victims of Agent Orange, regardless of nationalities.
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Opinion | America, Please Don’t Forget the Victims of Agent Orange (Published 2021)

Victims in Southeast Asia have never received compensation from the chemical giants that supplied herbicides during the Vietnam War.

www.nytimes.com
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
5 years
THE MOUNTAINS SING is released today! It's a Best Book of the Month/Season of The New York Times, The Washington Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, USA Today, Real Simple, Amazon , PopSugar, Book Riot, Paperback Paris, She Reads, We Are Bookish. Pls order now
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Stoked to see my name in full diacritical marks! Not Nguyen Phan Que Mai like the Western world has expected me to write my name as part of the English texts, but Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, the Vietnamese way. Thank you for joining me in decolonising literature about Việt Nam!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Vietnamese women rarely have the chance to tell our own stories & I'm THRILLED to be able to share mine during my U.S. book tour. Thanks for uplifting my voice and helping change the narrative about Việt Nam. For event details, visit:
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
THRILLED to share the cover of my second novel, DUST CHILD, forthcoming with @AlgonquinBooks This novel took me seven years to write and countless of sleepless nights. Inspired by real-life stories, DUST CHILD is a celebration of the human spirit:
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Sài Gòn is my home city. I studied and worked here for many years; my parents and brothers live here. My new novel, DUST CHILD is my love letter to my home city as well as my appreciation of its complex past. Check out this special feature on @Saigoneer
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Dear World, just look at this picture from a Covid hospital in Bình Dương and send more vaccines to Việt Nam. Can you see portable beds being placed between two beds? My parents, in their 80s now, are still waiting for their vaccine shots😭 (picture from Tuổi Trẻ Newspaper)
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Many publishers rejected The Mountains Sing but this team believed in it from the very beginning. Thank you @BetsyGleick @RandallLotowycz @BklynMac & the whole team at @AlgonquinBooks . This journey is only possible thanks to you! Thank you for this spectacular welcome!
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
For many years, I used to catch fish and shrimps like this, from very early morning until it was time to go to school. I don't remember how hard the work was, just how spectacular it was to be surrounded by nature. (This photo was recently captured by Nick Ut)
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
From a Vietnamese boat refugee to Hollywood Star & Golden Globe Winner! #KeHuyQuan is an example of the Asian spirit: hard-working & never giving-up! Hollywood should give Asian actors, actresses & screenwriters more chances to shine. Our stories deserve to be told, by ourselves.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Woke up to the best news: a Vietnamese American daughter has reopened her relationship with her mother after reading The Mountains Sing.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Never in my life have I seen my book before its publication day!!! Thank you so much much @elliottbaybookco for making my dream come true!!! Thank you to all booksellers and readers who are creating space for Vietnamese literature. Thank you!!!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
This amazing bookseller, Alien, from Transit Bookstore in Jakarta ordered copies of my novel from overseas. When she learned that I live in Jakarta, she traveled nearly an hour each way to bring the books to me, for me to sign. Independent booksellers are my heroes!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
When I was 19, I had two sets of clothes. I often went to bed hungry. No money for food. When I learnt that I’d won an Australian scholarship, I cried for my mother who was selling ice-cream on the street. Here is my message to Australian readers. @OneworldNews @BloomsburySyd
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
My novel, #DUSTCHILD , is now available. Centered on mixed-race children who were born into the Việt Nam War, the novel is a call for peace and for humans to love humans more. It is also my fight against racism and sexism. Thanks for reading and sharing🙏
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
He is so humble, he did not prepare a speech! but @charles_yu WON THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION!!!!!! So well-deserved! congratulations and thank you @viet_t_nguyen whose post many months ago made me grab this book and devour it!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
For many years, I doubted my decision to write in English - my second language. But I fought against these doubts and kept going. And now, one week to its publication, my novel DUST CHILD has been named a best fiction book of 2023 by Reader's Digest!❤️🙏❤️
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
THE SYMPATHIZER challenges readers' assumptions about Vietnam, it puts Vietnamese people in the equal position with Americans. It humors, thrills, shocks, educates. It's a must-read. Its sequel, THE COMMITTED is a must-read, too.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
I did it!!! I submitted my PhD thesis today!!! Is it strange that I am really looking forward to defending my viva? I just can't wait to share the results of my PhD research. I have learnt so much in the past five years. Thank you @lancaster_words and @ZoeFLambert !
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
It has taken us a long time but we are here: two Vietnamese stories are the finalists of the #Audies2021 Award! Grateful thanks to our champions who listen to us and believe in the need for more #OwnVoices stories 🙏🏻❤
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
So, so honored that the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen @viet_t_nguyen calls my novel "the Vietnamese version of The Grapes of Wrath."
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
TWO Vietnamese actors have been nominated for the Oscars this year. This is just the beginning! #vietnamesepride #kehuyquan #hongchau
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Dear Ms. @Oprah , I used to watch your shows to be able to improve my English. So I screamed and cried when I saw my first book in English, THE MOUNTAINS SING, featured in your @oprahmagazine . Thank you for being my inspiration and the inspiration of women from all over the world!
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Sixty years ago today, the US commenced the sprayings of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Today, millions of people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are still living with devastating consequences. Please help share my essay on @nytopinion & demand justice for victims
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Opinion | America, Please Don’t Forget the Victims of Agent Orange (Published 2021)

Victims in Southeast Asia have never received compensation from the chemical giants that supplied herbicides during the Vietnam War.

www.nytimes.com
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
I released a baby turtle into the sea. It was magical to watch the turtle meet the ocean for the first time, how it courageously swam out into the deep water, how it rose against the countless waves. May we all be as brave as the turtle and embark on excciting adventures.
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
I just got my U.S. visa and I'm traveling to Ohio to attend the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Award Ceremony!!! From 7-26 November, I'll be in Maryland, New York, Ohio, Iowa & LA. If your school, library, company, or bookshop would like to host me for an event, pls let me know❤
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
One week until the Vietnamese New Year (Tết). A reader told me she always thought about the military attacks (Tết Offensive) when she heard about Tết. But Tết is packed with many unique traditions. Here are some of them, seen from my childhood eyes:
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Thrilled and honored The Mountains Sing has just won a 2021 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. Grateful thanks to the PEN Oakland Board of Directors for selecting my novel out of many nominations. I can't wait for the virtual award ceremony on December 4.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
Arrived in Italy. This is what I saw in the first bookshop that I walked into!😭 My new novel, Dust Child, translated into Italian!
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Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
5 years
For a girl who worked on rice fields, sold things on streets or at markets outside school hours #TheMountainsSing is a dream come true. Published by the fantastic @BetsyGleick and @AlgonquinBooks , championed by @Jule9 and @viet_t_nguyen , this book is ready to be yours on 17 March
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Proud as hell to see THREE Nguyễn/Nguyen next to each other on the shelf of Barnes & Noble: @viet_t_nguyen 's THE SYMPATHIZER, THE REFUGEES, @knguyen 's NEW WAVES and my debut novel THE MOUNTAINS SING
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
It took me a lifetime of research, a Masters and a PhD in creative writing to be able to finish this novel. During the seven years I penned #TheMountainsSing , there were many nights the characters appeared in my dream and told me to wake up & write. Their stories refused to sleep
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
Pls share your earliest childhood picture & a story accompanying it. Here's mine. Our family couldn't afford pictures until one Vietnamese New Year when a man with a camera knocked at our gate, offering to take photos in exchange for rice. We paid him a few kilos of rice for this
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
There is no novelist who can turn fiction into critism like @viet_t_nguyen . He is, undoubtedly, one of most important writers of our time. His new novel, THE COMMITTED, is a must read.
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How Viet Thanh Nguyen Turns Fiction Into Criticism

With “The Committed,” the novelist establishes himself as a conscience of American literature.

www.newyorker.com
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
It took me seven years to write it and now, THE MOUNTAINS SING is short-listed for the People's Book Prize! If you have read my novel and think it deserves to be read, please help cast your vote and share the news. Thank you!
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Thank you to all those who voted and enabled The Mountains Sing to win The Blogger's Book Prize. I used all the prize money to buy hundreds of children books for young cancer patients at the National Pediatrics Hospital of Vietnam. The children and doctors send you their thanks❤
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Vietnam is fighting the pandemic with everything it has!
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
When he was still the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Shinzo Abe bowed to a Japanese female farmer. Today the whole world bowed goodbye to him. May he rest in peace.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
My mother and me in the early 80s, when Vietnam was closed to foreign eyes, when we lived under the American embargo, when many Vietnamese fled by boats. For the first time, I'll tell stories behind this picture. Live author event November 5, 7:30pm PT:
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
1 year
This conversation between Elif Shafak @Elif_Safak and Min Jin Lee @minjinlee11 is one of the best author interviews I have listened to. So much wisdom, honesty, humanity. Thank you for the inspiration. 🎧📖
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The Conversation - Women writing family sagas - BBC Sounds

Min Jin Lee and Elif Shafak explore the themes of love, identity and belonging

www.bbc.co.uk
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
2 years
I wrote #DUSTCHILD in 2015 when many literary agents rejected me & I had little hope of being published in English. But I had to write this story for myself. And now, @AppleBooks chooses #DustChild as a March best book! Please, never give up on your dream:
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
I met VIET THANH NGUYEN @viet_t_nguyen at AWP in 2016. A few weeks later, he introduced me to one of the two agents who sold THE SYMPATHIZER. And so my career as a novelist began. Join us tomorrow as we reveal more about my debut novel, THE MOUNTAINS SING:
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Never in my wildest dream! THE MOUNTAINS SING has been selected as a notable paperback by both The New York Times and People Magazine. Thank you for opening your homes and your hearts to Grandma Diệu Lan and her daughter Hương:
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
It's Mother's Day in Việt Nam today and this man has to say goodbye to his mother from afar 😭. If you and your mother have both been vaccinated, hug her tight and tell her how much you love her. If you live far away from your mom, call her. Call her.
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
3 years
Vietnam is not a war. This painting, Portrait of Mademoiselle Phượng by the Vietnamese painter Mai Trung Thứ was sold today by an auction by Sotheby's in Hong Kong for 24,375,000 HKD (3.1 million USD) !!!
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@nguyen_p_quemai
Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
@nguyen_p_quemai
4 years
Let's #StopAsianHate with literature & arts. Comment the name of a book/movie/play & the corresponding writer/film maker/playwright who contribute to a better understanding of Asian cultures. Follow as many Asian artists & writers as we can.
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