Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter by Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao is a dual memoir exploring the complex relationship between a Vietnamese refugee mother and her American-born daughter. For this audiobook, you worked alongside VyVy Nguyen, a fellow Viet Book Fest panelist. How did collaborating with another narrator shape your approach to the story? How do you navigate the emotional intensity of memoir-driven narratives? Were there passages that resonated with you personally, and if so, how did that influence your performance?
VyVy and I recorded our chapters separately so we didn’t get to really collaborate. Sometimes co-narrators on a book would share samples with each other of how they voice different characters for reference, but I already knew VyVy’s voice well.
The passages that resonated the most—and there were many—were ones that detailed Lan’s experiences in Sài Gòn during the war and as a refugee in the States, as well as the sections dealing with mental health. The Vietnamese community doesn’t talk about mental health struggles enough and I appreciated how open Lan and Harlan Margaret are when discussing these issues. Lan’s story is uniquely her own but I found emotional commonalities in our refugee experiences. In the especially intense sections, I just let whatever I was feeling take over. I was even crying sometimes but didn’t fight it. It almost makes the job easier when that happens because there’s no performance necessary.
In The Crossbow of Destiny by Brandon Hoang, listeners follow Freddie and her friends on a journey across Vietnam, blending adventure, folklore, and family dynamics. The story draws on Vietnamese legends, including the tale of Cao Lỗ and his crossbow. How did you prepare to narrate these culturally rooted elements authentically? How did you create distinct voices for each character while balancing humor, tension, and emotional moments to immerse the audience in the adventure?
I prepped how I usually prep—by reading the book at least once before starting the narration. I always use Viet pronunciations instead of anglicized ones for Viet words and names, but it’s even more important to do so in stories like CROSSBOW that include such well-known cultural legends and elements. To come up with distinctive voices for the characters, I cast them in the movie version in my mind’s eye; imagining how they look helps me come up with how they sound. The goal is always the same regardless of genre: try to honor the writing and not make the author cringe at my interpretations.
In The Monstrous Misses Mai by Van Hoang, listeners travel to 1959 Los Angeles alongside Cordelia Mai Yin, a young Vietnamese-American aspiring fashion designer. The novel features a lively cast of distinct characters. How did you approach giving each character a unique and memorable voice that reflects the late 1950s setting? What techniques did you use to immerse listeners in both the fantastical and everyday moments of the story?
The biggest challenge was to make the roommates sound distinct in their many scenes together. Vân gave them different personalities and her descriptions helped me see and hear them in my head. There were also two Russian men who appear often; I gave the older one a more pronounced accent than the younger one. I kept the narration grounded until the fantastical elements take over, when I went bigger and used my lower registers to indicate a literal, growling, raging monster. It’s kind of liberating to think that whatever I did with that character, I couldn’t really be accused of going over the top!
Across the audiobooks you’ve narrated, is there a particular novel you would love to see adapted into a film or television series where you would especially want to be part of as a cast member? If so, which actors or creatives would you dream of collaborating with on that project? Additionally, how do you think your experience as an audiobook narrator would influence your approach to performing that story in a visual medium?
I probably would be best suited for a movie adaptation of Cathy Yardley’s ROLE PLAYING. Many of the books I’ve narrated center around much younger protagonists, like Hà Dinh’s series about an eight-year-old named Ly-Lan, and I can’t play those characters on screen! Maggie Lê in ROLE PLAYING is not only closest in age to me but probably in personality as well. She doesn’t like leaving the house, lives in lounge pants, hates grocery shopping, is often cranky. A friend listened to the audiobook and asked, “Is this you?” I said, “Yes, I narrated it!” He said, “No, I meant is Maggie you?”
If I were playing her on screen, my approach would be the same as it was for the audiobook: keep her grounded and relatable and honor Cathy’s vision. Chris Brinkley and I recorded the audiobook separately so the bonus of doing a film version would be getting to interact with the actor playing Aiden. He’s described as a 50-year-old bear of a man and I’d go with Henry Cavill aged up a little. And I’d want Celine Song to direct it. How soon can we make this happen?
Elyse has loved reading since before she could read. When she was very small, her family had designated reading/homework time in the evenings during which she would sit quietly and pretend to read, making up her own stories while sometimes holding a book upside down. She can actually read now and hold books right side up, and has even edited them for New York Times best-selling authors. Elyse started narrating audiobooks because she thought it’d be fun to perform all the characters in a story but it’s also kind of hard. Somehow she has managed to win two Earphone Awards, given by Audiofile Magazine (now Kirkus Audiobook Reviews) for “exceptional audio experiences,” and one audiobook was named one of the best of the year.
Elyse also acts on camera and works as an acting and dialect coach for film and TV.
This interview was conducted by Alan Trinh, Viet Book Fest’s Program Manager, as part of the Author Spotlight series. All featured authors participated in Viet Book Fest 2026, a literary event presented by the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA).
Join us on Sunday, April 12, 2026, from 10 AM to 5 PM at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California for a full day honoring Vietnamese storytelling and culture in literature.
Viet Book Fest 2026 offers a full day of programming focused on Vietnamese literature, storytelling, and culture. Attendees can participate in five panel discussions, enjoy interactive activities for children, and experience youth performances that showcase Vietnamese traditions and creativity. The festival also provides a space for community collaborations, where participants can create their own art and engage in hands-on projects.