In this special UWRF event, author of internationally bestselling novel The Mountains Sing, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, speaks about her latest book Dust Child, an expansive, immersive, and suspenseful tale converging Viêt Nam’s wartime past with its complicated present. Informed by years of research, Nguyễn braids together three distinct experiences which unveil the trauma of broken families and inherited tragedy—Phong, who spends a lifetime searching for his father; Dan, an American veteran who returns to Viêt Nam in 2016 to find the woman he fell in love with while stationed there decades ago; and Kim, the very woman Dan is searching for, whose story takes us back to 1969 during the war. Don’t miss this rare chance to hear from Nguyễn, in conversation with Janet DeNeefe, about telling the untold stories of Viêt Nam.
Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is a Vietnamese author whose novel, The Mountains Sing, is an international bestseller, runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the BookBrowse Best Debut Award, the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award Fellowship. Author of twelve books in Vietnamese and English, her writing has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in major publications including The New York Times. Dust Child is her most recent novel.
Melbourne-born Janet DeNeefe, Founder & Director of Ubud Food Festival and Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, has lived in Bali for more than three decades. Her latest book is Bali: Food of My Island Home, following her memoir Fragrant Rice. She is also the owner of Casa Luna, Indus Restaurant, and Honeymoon Guesthouse and Bakery in Ubud.
Get ready to immerse yourself in a literary celebration like no other as the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) returns for its momentous 20th anniversary festival from 18-22 October …
“It’s not that I’m anti-foreigner. The only thing I ask the foreigners who live here is, on a bare minimum, please at least follow the rules just like us, in …
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