✦ The Written Word ✦
Why I
Write
"I write because my soul feels restless and the words on the page form a cadence that feels like my heartbeat."
"I write because my soul feels restless and the words on the page form a cadence that feels like my heartbeat."
A memoir in essays telling the story of a queer Hmong shaman growing up in rural America who retraces the wounds of war, on a quest to unlock the secret to healing generations of trauma — all while navigating identity, faith and alcoholism.
Rooted in the Hmong diaspora. Universal in its reach. A book for everyone who has ever inherited a wound they did not choose.
This reading celebrated the end of my national PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship. I am introduced by my mentor, Weike Wang, and read from an excerpt of my memoir in progress.
This is an excerpt from my memoir in progress, read at the Lambda Literary Emerging LGBTQ Writers Summer Workshop, 2024. My mentor during the workshop was Meredith Talusan.
Watch on YouTube ↗I write about healing, the quantum realm, the end of the world, and other hot takes that no one asked for. Follow along as I attempt to publish the first queer Hmong memoir in the world.