Đặng Thơ Thơ is a writer, editor, and co-founder of Da Màu, a literary platform for Vietnamese-language writing. In our interview, she shares her creative routine, the inspirations behind her experimental novel Ai, and her role in shaping Beyond Borders, an anthology of diasporic Vietnamese short stories. She also reflects on Da Màu’s community and its commitment to supporting Vietnamese literature through collaboration and translation.
As a novelist, short-story writer, and essayist, do you have a writing routine? How is reading and writing integrated in your day-to-day life, and where do you find inspiration for new writing projects and ideas?
My ideal writing day, a luxury reserved for weekends, begins with morning coffee, progresses through afternoon tea, and culminates in evening wine, all accompanied by classical music. I crave a tranquil sanctuary, “a room of one’s own,” echoing Virginia Woolf’s essential premise, perhaps graced with the presence of fresh flowers. Writing is my intimate rendezvous with my writer self.
My creative rhythm intertwines writing with reading, a dual act of immersive pleasure and critical analysis. As I delve into a narrative, I meticulously dissect the author’s craft, evaluating its adherence to, or divergence from, genre conventions.
My inspiration, however, transcends the written word, embracing music and visual art. Art museums, particularly those showcasing modern architectural marvels like the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, and the Art Center in Tokyo, serve as potent sources of inspiration. I relish wandering through these spaces, exploring the seamless interplay of their architectural elements into a unified aesthetic. These spatial and visual concepts are then translated into my primary medium: language. My ambition is to infuse my novels with this same sense of architectural cohesion, constructing interconnected narratives of immersive depth. Similarly, Bach’s fugues and suites resonate with my creative process, providing a structural framework for motif development and thematic expansion, ensuring a unified and purposeful whole.
You founded Da Màu in 2006, and it continues to thrive and contribute to Vietnamese-language literature globally. What has been the most enjoyable aspect of running Da Màu for you? How would you describe this literary community you’ve created? What hopes do you have for Da Màu and the future of Vietnamese-language literature?
What truly sustains me at Da Mau is the vibrant community we’ve built—a collective of writers tirelessly enriching Vietnamese literature. Da Màu serves as our collective platform, amplifying diverse voices and creating a shared space for literary and artistic expression. The reciprocal exchange is invaluable: we contribute our insights on art and literature, and in return, we receive compelling narratives, profound poetry, and meticulously researched essays spanning history, philosophy, and literary studies. I am particularly inspired by the collaborative spirit of our colleagues, especially evident in our special issues. These projects, which delve into topics such as language, race, gender, sexuality, post-colonial literature, children’s literature, film, international theater, experimental fiction, and various literary genres, demand extensive research and translation. Their expertise not only deepens our understanding but also strengthens our collective bond.
Da Màu has cultivated a unique global kinship among writers, transcending geographical, generational, racial, gender, and historical divides. It stands as a testament to literature’s unifying power.
Committed to the advancement of Vietnamese language literature, we prioritize Da Màu Foundation’s core mission: introducing Vietnamese diasporic writers to a broader audience through publication and translation. Translation is essential; these voices deserve global recognition. Our recent publication of “Beyond Borders,” an English anthology of diasporic short stories, is a significant step, and we are actively working to expand its distribution.
Moving forward, we aim to secure funding for literary translation through grants and partnerships, and facilitate the free dissemination and restoration of cultural and literary works. Furthermore, we are committed to providing mentorship and writing workshops for aspiring Vietnamese writers, recognizing that preserving and transmitting our literary heritage to the next generation is paramount.
Your novel Ai is experimental, abstract, with disappearances being a central theme. Who are your literary inspirations, and do you see their influence in your works, whether in theme or style?
I’m drawn to the intellectual playfulness of postmodern literature, particularly works employing metafiction, genre blending, and intertextuality. Jorge Luis Borges’s Labyrinths and Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler exemplify this style, characterized by philosophical depth, intricate structural patterns, and the deliberate blurring of reality, fantasy, and imagination.
Among my favorite contemporary authors, Amélie Nothomb and Yoko Ogawa offer distinct yet compelling voices. Nothomb’s work is marked by its sharp satire and confrontational tone, exploring themes of identity and power dynamics within societal constraints. Ogawa, in contrast, delves into the subtle complexities of human psychology, focusing on the inner lives and emotional landscapes of her characters. Both authors navigate dark themes, but Nothomb employs a biting humor, while Ogawa evokes a more insidious, creeping sense of unease.
My own novel Ai is an exploration of the novel as a convergence space for diverse artistic expressions. It integrates musical, architectural, and cinematic elements within a linguistic framework, creating a multi-layered narrative. Beneath the surface of human disappearances lies a deeper inquiry into time, identity, and memory. Ai confronts the fundamental impermanence of existence, where individuals, communities, and even nations succumb to erasure. In response, humanity seeks to counter this loss through art—cinema, museums, and symbolic representations like dolls (Chapter 11). Art, in this context, transcends mere representation, becoming a living entity (as in the bleeding dolls in Chapter 13), a means of eternalizing existence against the relentless tide of oblivion.
Furthermore, Ai delves into the rupture between language and history, depicting generations severed by a linguistic divide. As language, the vessel of memory and history, fractures, so too does collective memory, resulting in a profound historical schism.
Beyond Borders is a collection of stories by first and 1.5 generation Vietnamese writers, translating their diasporic Vietnamese experience for English readers. As part of Da Màu’s editorial board, can you share the process of working with these writers and translators? Were there challenges that you encountered along the way?
“Beyond Borders” comprises 15 stories, showcasing a range of publication origins. Ten stories were initially published on Da Màu in Vietnamese, two were written in English exclusively for this anthology, two were drawn from previously published Vietnamese print collections, and one is an English translation of a Vietnamese work from another literary website. The selection criteria emphasized literary merit and alignment with contemporary themes outlined in our Fall 2023 Anthology Open Call, such as racial relations, refugee and immigrant narratives, and experiences of racism or violence related to various social and political factors. Authors Hồ Như, Đinh Từ Bích Thuý, Trần C. Trí, and Trịnh Y Thư provided their own English translations, while other stories were translated by Da Màu staff. A rigorous peer-editing process, where each translation was reviewed by anthology editors before final approval by production editor Đinh Từ Bích Thuý, ensured editorial consistency and excellence.
“The New Year’s Eve,” by Cung Tích Biền, proved the anthology’s most formidable translation undertaking. Its complex, multi-voiced narrative, coupled with a richly nuanced language and intricate allusions, necessitated an unprecedented level of collaboration. The story underwent intensive editorial scrutiny, marked by exhaustive, iterative exchanges between the translator- anthology editor and the production editor during the final review. In a testament to their dedication, these editors embarked on a marathon 12-hour session, dissecting each line to meticulously calibrate word choice, grammar, syntax, tone, and flow. This rigorous endeavor was driven by the imperative to faithfully capture the story’s complex meaning, vivid imagery, and profound subject matter, while preserving its distinctive, cohesive atmosphere, ensuring the style and nuances of Cung Tích Biền’s work were faithfully rendered.
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This interview was conducted by Cathy Duong as part of the Author Spotlight series. All featured authors participated in Viet Book Fest 2025, a literary event presented by the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA). Held on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, the all-day festival celebrated Vietnamese diasporic voices in literature, culture, and storytelling.
