Curated by the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA), this list is rooted in our mission to connect and enrich communities through Vietnamese arts and culture. Founded in 1991 by Vietnamese journalists, artists, and friends, VAALA was created to provide space for newly resettled immigrant artists to express themselves. Today, we continue this work through programs such as Viet Book Fest, Viet Film Fest, Gallery Beyond Walls Youth Programs, and world-class art exhibitions.
This reading list reflects the vibrant, evolving landscape of Vietnamese and Vietnamese diasporic literature. Many of the titles gathered here have been featured at Viet Book Fest over the years, shared by authors who have partnered with us, exhibited with us, or stood alongside our community through conversations, readings, and celebrations of the written word.
Viet Book Fest is an all day celebration of Vietnamese diasporic literature and storytelling, bringing together writers, readers, and community members. This reading list extends that spirit beyond the festival.
Our reading list brings together a vibrant selection of titles connected to Viet Book Fest—past and present. We invite you to continue the journey by exploring these works through our official booksellers: LibroMobile and Tu Luc Bookstore, or by visiting damau.org and the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network for more literary features, essays, and community voices.
Stay connected with us by subscribing to our newsletter and following @vaalacommunity on Facebook and Instagram. If you are able, please consider supporting our work through a donation, and reach out to us if you have any questions.
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Children’s & Middle Grade
Vietnamese Children’s Favorite Stories – Trần Thị Minh Phước, illustrated by Nguyễn Thị Hợp & Nguyễn Đồng
The tales chosen for this book share the Vietnamese five great virtues: Nhan (Compassion), Le (Rituals), Nghia (Righteousness), Tri (Wisdom), and Tin (Trust). The adapter notes that her parents used traditional stories to teach children values and morals.
My Footprints – Bao Phi, illustrated by Basia Tran
Every child feels different in some way, but Thuy feels "double different." She is Vietnamese American and she has two moms.
Chicken of the Sea – Viet Thanh Nguyen & Ellison Nguyen, illustrated by Thi Bui & Hien Bui-Stafford
A band of intrepid chickens leave behind the boredom of farm life, joining the crew of the pirate ship Pitiless to seek fortune and glory on the high seas.
Simone – Viet Thanh Nguyen, illustrated by Minnie Phan
When Simone is awakened by her mom as a wildfire threatens their home, it is the beginning of a life-changing journey.
My Ong Ngoai's Garden: Cal’s Guide to Vietnamese Fruits and Culture – Ann Chau, illustrated by QBN Studios
Follow Cal as he explores his grandpa’s garden and learns about delicious fruits commonly found in Vietnam.
An Asian American A to Z: A Children’s Guide to Our History – Cathy Linh Che & Kyle Lucia Wu, illustrated by Kavita Ramchandran
A comprehensive and spirited exploration of Asian American history—its movements, cultures, and key figures—beautifully illustrated and compellingly told for readers of all ages.
The Vietnamese Children's Songbook: Songs and Cultural Treasures – Tina Huynh, illustrated by Jessica Dinh
A collection of nine songs and Mid-Autumn Harvest Moon Festival activities for children aged 3–10 years.
Mai's Áo Dài – Thai Nguyen & Monique Truong, illustrated by Dung Ho
It’s the morning of Tet, and Mai is excited to celebrate at her grandmother’s home. She wants to wear a sparkly Cinderella dress, but her father suggests an áo dài, a traditional Vietnamese outfit, leaving Mai disappointed.
Girl Giant and the Monkey King – Van Hoang
Eleven-year-old Thom Ngho is keeping a secret: she’s strong. Like suuuuper strong. Freakishly strong. And it’s making it impossible for her to fit in at her new middle school.
Zodiac Animals for Movers – Peggy HồngĐức Nguyễn
Through movement-based concepts and dynamic illustrations, Zodiac Animals for Movers is a children’s book inviting readers to embody the gifts of each zodiac friend.
Auntie Q's Golden Claws Nail Salon – Van Hoang
A heartwarming and funny middle grade novel about family, resilience, and the power of second chances where one girl’s summer punishment turns into a mission to save her aunt’s struggling nail salon and bring her family together.
The Crossbow of Destiny – Brandon Hoàng
That’s when Ông Nội reveals his secret: He knows the location of an ancient legendary crossbow, one with the power to decimate armies–and he’s hidden it away from those who intend to use its magic for evil.
Gloria Buenrostro is Not My Girlfriend – Brandon Hoàng
A contemporary YA debut about a Vietnamese-American boy who tries to attain popularity by befriending the most beautiful girl in school, inspired by the Vietnamese-American author's teen experience.
Minecraft: One Last Quest – Brandon Hoàng
The kingdom has been breached. Beware The Griefer! Four friends must defend their shared world in this official Minecraft novel.
The Beasts Beneath the Winds – Brandon Hoàng
An anthology about South East Asian cryptids
Young Adult
Green Lantern: Legacy – Minh Le, illustrated by Andie Tong
Thirteen-year-old Tai Pham lives in the apartment above his grandmother's store, where his bedroom is crammed with sketchpads and comic books. But not even his most imaginative drawings could compare to the colorful adventure he's about to embark on.
Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam – Thien Pham
Behind every cut of steak and inside every croissant lies a story. And for Thien Pham, that story is about a search―for belonging, for happiness, for the American dream.
Gloria Buenrostro Is Not My Girlfriend – Brandon Hoàng
Gary Võ is one of the few Vietnamese kids in his school and has been shy for as long as he can remember―being ignored and excluded by his classmates comes with the territory. So when the most popular guy in his grade offers Gary the opportunity to break into his inner circle, Gary jumps at the chance. All he needs to do is steal the prized possession of the most beautiful and untouchable girl they know―Gloria Buenrostro.
A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix (Remixed Classics, 1) – C. B. Lee
1826. The sun is setting on the golden age of piracy, and the legendary Dragon Fleet, the scourge of the South China Sea, is no more. Its ruthless leader, a woman known only as the Head of the Dragon, is now only a story, like the ones Xiang has grown up with all her life. She desperately wants to prove her worth, especially to her mother, a shrewd businesswoman who never seems to have enough time for Xiang.
A Banh Mi for Two – Trinity Nguyen
In this sweet sapphic romance about two foodies in love, Vivi meets Lan while studying abroad in Vietnam and they spend the semester unraveling their families' histories—and eating all the street food in Sài Gòn.
The Last Bloodcarver – Vanessa Le
Nhika is a bloodcarver. A coldhearted, ruthless being who can alter human biology with just a touch.
His Mortal Demise – Vanessa Le
Kochin is a heartsooth—a rare being with the ability to heal any wound. Any wound, that is, except death.
Fiction — Adult & Literary
The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) – Viet Thanh Nguyen
Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize, a startling debut novel from a powerful new voice featuring one of the most remarkable narrators of recent fiction: a conflicted subversive and idealist working as a double agent in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
Monkey Bridge: A Novel – Lan Cao
Like navigating a monkey bridge—a bridge, built of spindly bamboo, used by peasants for centuries—the narrative traverses perilously between worlds past and present, East and West, in telling two interlocking stories: one, the Vietnamese version of the classic immigrant experience in America, told by a young girl; and the second, a dark tale of betrayal, political intrigue, family secrets, and revenge—her mother's tale.
The Girl Before Her – Line Papin (Author), Adriana Hunter (Translator)
A coming-of-age tale of dislocation and inherited trauma from the acclaimed young French Vietnamese novelist.
The Fortunes of Jaded Women: A Novel – Carolyn Huynh
For fans of Amy Tan, KJ Dell’Antonia, and Kevin Kwan, this “sharp, smart, and gloriously extra” (Nancy Jooyoun Kim, author of The Last Story of Mina Lee) debut celebrates a family of estranged Vietnamese women who experiences mishaps and unexpected joy after a psychic makes a startling prediction about their lives.
Stories from the Edge of the Sea – Andrew Lam
At times humorous and ecstatic, other times poetic and elegiac, the fourteen pieces in Stories from the Edge of the Sea explore love and loss, lust and grief, longing and heartbreaks through the lives of Vietnamese immigrants and their children in California.
Ai — Đặng Thơ Thơ
Ai is a novel about the disappearance of the self, of human beings, on the stage of life as a museum. Ai is organically constructed as a fugue about the journey of escape, exile, asylum, and transformation of human beings in modern times.
Family Recipe — Carolyn Huynh
A stunning family dramedy about estranged siblings competing to inherit their father’s Vietnamese sandwich franchise and unravel family mysteries.
Monstrous Misses Mai — Van Hoang
A determined young woman in 1950s Los Angeles walks a darker city than she ever imagined in a spellbinding novel about the power to make dreams come true―whatever the sacrifice.
Nonfiction & Memoirs
The Veil Between Two Worlds: A Memoir of Silence, Loss, and Finding Home – Christina Vo
Christina Vo has always struggled with the concept of “home.” The daughter of an emotionally distant father and a mother who died when she was just fourteen, she continues to grapple with that legacy of loss and her constant quest to, as a fortysomething, find a reconciliation with the shape her life has taken.
Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence — Quan Huynh
Sparrow in the Razor Wire is Quan’s story of transformation inside a place many see as the end of the road. In his book, he shares the journey of redemption and discovery that led to his ultimate freedom. He found that, no matter the prison, the key to unlocking the door is in each one of us.
The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse — Vinh Nguyen
An unconventional memoir of conjuring the uncertain past and a long-lost homeland, and a vital document of one family’s journey through world history With the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, the U.S. war in Vietnam ended, but the refugee crisis was only beginning. Among the millions of people who fled Vietnam by boat were Vinh Nguyen, along with his mother and siblings, and his father, who left separately and then mysteriously vanished.
Bạch Hóa — Cung Tích Biền
Việt Nam là một đất nước có một dòng chảy lịch sử, kể từ mùa Thu năm 1945, khá đặc biệt, đầy nghịch cảnh do/từ sự đối kháng giữa hai ý thức hệ chính trị. Cuộc nội chiến phân tranh giữa Miền Bắc và Miền Nam lên đến đỉnh điểm kể từ khi có mặt quân đội Mỹ tham dự trực tiếp vào chiến trường Việt Nam. Từ đó, chiến trường mở rộng.
Hair: A Lai Mỹ Memoir — Jade Hidle
Jade Hidle grew up tweezing her mother’s hairs. As the distance between them grew, she began pulling her own.
My Unforgettable Journey: A Long Way From Home — Hugh Nguyen
Born in Vietnam and raised amid war and uncertainty, Hugh Nguyen shares a deeply personal journey of survival, identity, and hope.
Bibliotactics: Libraries and the Colonial Public — Cindy Anh Nguyen
Bibliotactics examines the Hanoi and Saigon state libraries in colonial and postcolonial Vietnam, uncovering the emergence of a colonial public who reimagined the political meaning and social space of the library through public critique and day-to-day practice.
Nothing Follows (Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network Series) – Lan P. Duong
The title of this debut collection, Nothing Follows, is reappropriated from a government document establishing the beginning of a refugee family’s time in the United States. At every coordinate of their lives, the refugee family provides affidavits, letters, and reams of paperwork as they work to beseech those in power to grant them “family reunification” visas for those they had to leave behind in 1975 after the fall of Saigon.
Poetry & Anthologies
Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry & Prose, 25th Anniversary Edition — Barbara Tran, Monique Truong & Khoi Luu (editors)
Watermark lifts all constraints, leaving the works to reset the boundaries for themselves. And they do—using poetry, fiction, and experimental forms to venture further into the intricacies of the Vietnamese American psyche. A work equal measures foundational and pathbreaking, now available again for a new generation of readers—an essential collection not to be missed.
Incidental Takes — Teresa Mei Chuc
The poems in Incidental Takes by Teresa Mei Chuc are personal and visceral; human and political; haunting and healing. The ebb and flow of the poems in English and Vietnamese translations mimic the movement of water and the interleaving of the poems mimic the oceanic ecosystem.
Vietnamese Stories for Language Learners — Tri C. Tran
Bilingual folktales in Vietnamese & English
The Colors of April — edited by Quan Manh Ha and Cab Tran
Together, the twenty-eight stories construct a kaleidoscopic portrait of the war’s legacy—an intricate mosaic of remembrance, ideology, and emotional scars, reflecting the complex realities of those who endured the conflict as well as those who live in its long wake.
Beyond Borders: Stories from The Vietnamese Diaspora — written in Vietnamese by well-known diasporic Viet writers and translated for the first time into English
The stories in Beyond Borders are written by mostly first and 1.5 generation Vietnamese refugees, featuring original works written in English or via translation from the Vietnamese. Wide-ranging yet unique in its scope, Beyond Borders acknowledges intergenerational trauma, explores queer desire, illustrates coping behavior of elderly characters who lose both their collective and personal memory, and revels in aesthetic expressions professed by rebellious exiles.
Lối Về Của Nước — Tri C. Tran, PhD
Lối về của nước là một tập truyện & kịch có những nét đặc biệt. Nó viết về Con Người, về Ngôn Ngữ, về Hiện-hữu-người, Thể-tính-người. Nó trình hiện trước mắt người đọc những tương-giao-người giăng mắc, chồng chéo, và đầy phức tạp. Tất cả chập chờn giữa mộng và thực. Mộng và thực gắn bó, trộn lẫn vào nhau. Con người nhìn vào hiện cảnh như nhìn vào một giấc mơ.
Vietnamese Cookbooks
Cơm Gia Đình: A Vietnamese American Anthology and Cookbook — a project by the Vietnamese American Roundtable (VAR)
This anthology is a celebration of those nourishing moments that have shaped our Vietnamese American community and a testament to our collective ability to rise again and pursue our dreams.
The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook: Beloved Recipes from the Family Behind the Purest Fish Sauce — co-written by Cuong Pham, Tien Nguyen, and Diep Tran
The official cookbook of 100 recipes from the cult favorite and top chef lauded fish sauce brand, Red Boat Fish Sauce
Ăn chưa? Simple Vietnamese Recipes That Taste Like Home — Julie Mai Trần
In this special collection of time-honored recipes, Julie Mai Trần, a first-generation Vietnamese-Chinese American and the creator of Share My Roots, celebrates Vietnamese cuisine and culture inspired by her mother’s cooking.
The Pho Cookbook — Andrea Nguyen
The book explores pho in its many guises — in soup, stir-fries, dumplings, sandwiches, and even cocktails.
Vietnamese Food Any Day — Andrea Nguyen
The recipes all rely on supermarket ingredients. Beginner, intermediate, and experienced cooks have relied on the book to make tasty Viet food any time they want.
Ever-Green Vietnamese— Andrea Nguyen
The flexitarian, vegetable-packed recipes include accessible takes on classics like microwaved bánh cuốn, air-fried crispy chả giò imperial rolls, and shallow-fried bánh tôm sweet potato and shrimp cakes.