Discussion | Roots and Routes: Diasporic Vietnamese Narratives
06:30 pm – 08 pm, Wed 07 May 2025
Institut français de Hué
01 Lê Hồng Phong, Phú Nhuận, Huế
Language: Vietnamese, English and French with simultaneous translation
Registration link
From the organizer:
What does it mean to grow up between cultures, where “home” is neither here nor there, but somewhere in between? How does this experience shape the literary identity of Vietnamese-European diasporic writers?
In this panel, we’ll sit with writers who navigate multiple cultural worlds, listening to how their diasporic journeys have quietly molded their literary voices. When identity is woven from movement and exchange, what unique patterns emerge in their writing? What threads connect their works—and where do those threads lead?
In the contemporary context, where cultural boundaries continuously intersect, the stories of diaspora writers are not just voices from another world, but narratives that are deeply relatable and provoke much reflection. We warmly invite all literature enthusiasts to join us.
Speakers:
Khuê Phạm (she/her) is an award-winning Vietnamese-German journalist and writer. A graduate of the London School of Economics, she worked as a producer for NPR’s Berlin bureau before becoming an editor at the weekly Die Zeit. She also contributed op-eds to the Guardian and USA Today. In 2012, she co-wrote “We new Germans”, a non-fiction book about second-generation immigrants in Germany. Her debut novel “Brothers and Ghosts” was published in English translation in Australia, Britain and the US. She is also a performer in “Kim”, the stage adaptation of her novel, which has been touring in Germany and Taiwan. Khuê is currently writing her second novel and has recently received a grant by the German Literary Foundation to support her work. A founding member of the PEN Berlin writer`s association, she is a also a juror for the International Literature Prize, an award for global literature translated into German.
Vanessa Vũ
Vanessa Vu is a journalist and author at ZEIT. In 2024, she published her debut book, «Komm dahin, wo es still ist» (Rowohlt), an epistolary exchange with her Syrian husband Ahmad Katlesh on refuge, migration, and identity. Born in Germany in 1991 to Vietnamese parents, Vu spent her childhood in an asylum shelter in Pfarrkirchen—an experience that deeply influences her work.
Since 2017, she has been an editor at ZEIT ONLINE, focusing on migration, human rights, and social justice through reports and essays. She hosts the monthly series «Klassenzimmer» at Berlin’s Schaubühne theatre, addressing poverty and classism. From 2018–2023, she co-hosted the Vietnamese-German podcast «Rice and Shine».
Her accolades include the Theodor-Wolff-Preis, Helmut-Schmidt-Preis, and Lessing-Preis für Kritik.
Kim Nguyen Baraldi
Kim Nguyen Baraldi is an essayist and literary critic.
He holds a degree in Modern Literature and a Master’s in Comparative Literature from the Sorbonne University (Paris), as well as a Master’s in Creative Writing from Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona).
He is the author of Por qué Georges Perec (La uÑa RoTa, Spain, 2024), with a French translation scheduled for publication in 2026.
His essays have appeared in various cultural and literary journals across Spain and Latin America. He teaches literary workshops and, since 2011, has been editing the literary website Calle del Orco. He currently lives in Barcelona.
Anna Moï
Anna Moï, born Trần Thiên Nga in 1955 in Saigon to a “Nord 54” family (Northern Vietnamese who migrated South in 1954), grew up across Saigon, Buôn Ma Thuột, and Hội An. In the 1970s, after earning her baccalaureate at Lycée Français Marie Curie, she moved to Paris to study History at Université Paris-Nanterre before pivoting to fashion, training at École de la Chambre Syndicale. She became a designer and opened her own Paris boutique under the name Anna Moï – later adopting it as her pen name.
She wrote her first poems at 16 (published in US magazines), then paused writing for over 20 years. Her debut narrative work appeared in 2001; as of 2024, she has published eight narratives and three novels.
Honored as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, her novel Le Venin du papillon (The Butterfly’s Venom), published in Vietnamese by Tre Publishing (January 2025), won the 2017 Prix Littérature-monde.
Thiên Thanh (Nu)
Thiên Thanh (Nu) (they/he) artist/art organizer. Their photography and social works are a way for them to connect with their roots and help empower others. Nu established the AirHue Residency Program in 2024 located in Hue – an ancient capital of Vietnam. AirHue provides a work-based opportunity for artists from different disciplines such as visual, digital and sound arts, encourages experimental topics and connects with local scenes by workshop and open studios.
Nu co-founded Vănguard – a zine for LGBTQ+ in Vietnam to engage and promote awareness of this community. The zine volumes are displayed and researched in various journal libraries around the world. In 2019, Vanguard was archived by the Library of Congress. Nu has been invited to speak at the Địa Project, the US Embassy, Northeastern University and M.I.T University.
Nu is the co-founder of the first art hostel in Ho Chi Minh City called Chaosdowntown which hosts performances, exhibitions, talks and collaborations with local and international artists.
Nu’s works focused on various ways to heal the Vietnamese diaspora from oppression.
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