Vietnamese women’s stories given full voice

INTERVIEW

‘Dust Child’ author Nguyen Phan Que Mai says, ‘Everything became real,’ with Quyen Ngo’s audiobook narration

Quyen Ngo, left, and Nguyen Phan Que Mai at a reading for the novel “Dust Child” at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on March 22. COURTESY OF NORMA JEAN ORTEGA

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When author Nguyen Phan Que Mai and actor Quyen Ngo reunite over a Zoom meeting, the love is palpable. As the call starts, they reach out toward their cameras, giving each other a virtual hug.

“I’m wearing a shirt Quyen gave me right now,” Que Mai says. “It’s made of velvet and it’s so soft; I feel like she’s hugging me every day.”

The two became fast friends after Ngo narrated Que Mai’s first novel in English, “The Mountains Sing.” The author was so impressed with the job Ngo did that she didn’t consider another narrator for her new novel, “Dust Child,” which spans decades and deals with the lives of Vietnamese and American people whose lives are affected by the Vietnam War, including two Amerasians — those born in Asia to American fathers and Asian mothers.

Que Mai lives in Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam, and talked about her novel from New York, where she was doing an event for “Dust Child.” Ngo spoke from Los Angeles, where she lives. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

Q Que Mai, can you talk about the origins of this novel?

Que Mai >> I grew up in Vietnam where I witnessed the discrimination faced by Amerasians, the children born out of relationships between American soldiers and Vietnamese women. In 2015, I read about an American veteran returning to Vietnam with an album of old photos, looking for the woman whom he had once abandoned, and trying to find his child. I was really moved, so I began getting involved in helping people find their family members. I’ve been involved in real-life searches for family members, Amerasians and their family members. The stories that I witnessed were just so heartbreaking but also gave me a lot of hope.

I wrote “Dust Child” over seven years, and I’m just so thrilled that Quyen is the brilliant narrator. Actually, I had it in my publishing contract that she should be given priority for consideration when it came to the audiobook narration, because she did such an exceptional job in narrating “The Mountains Sing.” She’s not just an actress and narrator, she’s an advocate for disadvantaged groups. She has done so much for others, and her compassion really shines through with her performance.

Q Do you remember the first time you heard Quyen’s narration of “The Mountains Sing”?

Que Mai >> When I listened to the audiobook, everything became real. I could hear my grandmothers’ voices. I wrote that novel to be able to have a grandmother, because both of my grandmas had died before I was born. And listening to Quyen’s narration, I could hear my grandmother’s voice in her performance. I stood in front of the family altar, and I cried, and I cried, and I cried. It was the first time that I felt like the whole book was so alive, that it was real, and everything was interconnected. It was so powerful.

Q Quyen, what was your reaction when you first read “Dust Child”?

Ngo >> So many things. First and foremost, I found it difficult. I found it a really challenging read in many different dimensions. As a woman, it was challenging because of the journey it takes you through. And one of the things that Que Mai does as an author is that she unfolds along with the characters. If you’ve ever listened to her talk about the way her writing process goes, she’s discovering as much as the audience is discovering. She’s unfolding with the characters. Of course, “The Mountains Sing” was also challenging. It was challenging historically, it was challenging in terms of my Vietnamese identity, all of those things.

But with “Dust Child,” it’s a different dimension of hurt and difficulty. As I read it, I was almost in awe. I couldn’t believe that she had written this, even despite the fact that I’ve already felt that this is my soul sister. The universe has brought us together and she creates work that speaks to things that I have been contemplating and thinking about for my entire life. And somehow it’s just all there on the page.

But specifically for “Dust Child” — I actually haven’t even told her yet — I couldn’t believe that I was seeing things that I’m thinking about every day when it comes to Vietnamese history, women’s struggles and external perceptions and pressures. I couldn’t believe that she had woven all of this into this book. I actually waited until I had a 10-hour train ride to finish the last portion of the book. I finished it, and I was just sitting in my reclining train seat, sobbing. After I had finished, I wrote to her and said, “You take the untouchables of our people and the world, and you wrap them in silk, and demand that they be loved, be respected, and be seen.” And it’s because she loves them.

Que Mai >> Thank you so much, Quyen. In this novel, I wanted to represent these complex Vietnamese women who have been really misrepresented in a lot of Hollywood movies about Vietnam, which consider Vietnamese women as victims who need to be rescued by White men. I worked in gender issues and gender mainstreaming for U.N. agencies. I was a consultant in gender for many years. We have to do so many things to promote gender equality. We have to fight for our representation, our space to tell our own stories. There is so much work to be done.

Q Can you talk about how you discovered each other?

Ngo >> I had come across a poem of hers in 2015, and I loved it so much that I felt that the world needed to know it, so I translated it. Then 2019 rolls around, and all of a sudden this person whose work I translated follows me on Twitter. And I think to myself, “She must have somehow come across this translation.” What an honor, right? And also a little nerve-wracking. So I DMed her, and said, “Wow, Di, what an honor to meet you virtually. Thank you so much for following me.” And she writes back, “Have you gotten emails from my team? We’re trying to get you to narrate my book.”

So I wrote her back and said, “Wow, I would love to narrate your book, but also, did you know that I’m a huge fan of your work? Here’s the poem I translated.” And she had no idea that I had done that. The only thing that she knew was that her team had picked my voice out from a list of demos. So that’s how we came to meet. It was completely serendipitous.

Que Mai >> It was incredible. Quyen has been helping me with so many of my events because she’s so generous. Her whole family drove from San Jose to Orange County where we did an event, and her mom gave me a big jar of special New Zealand honey so I can stay healthy on this book tour. And during the events that I was having, I was wearing Quyen’s mother’s dress. This is how literature can really bring us together. We are like a family now.