The Poet and the Poem
2024-25 Series

Featured Wayne Karlin & Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Click here for Karlin_Que Mai podcast.mp3

Wayne Karlin has published eight novels, a collection of short stories and three works of non-fiction. His new novel, The Genizah, will be released this September. He served in the Vietnam War, taught in a community college for over 30 years and has worked through literary and other projects towards reconciliation with Vietnam. He has received two Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Paterson Prize in Fiction, the Juniper Prize for Fiction, and the Vietnam Veterans of American Excellence in the Arts Award.

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the author of two internationally bestselling novels, The Mountains Sing and Dust Child, the poetry collection The Secret of Hoa Sen, as well as eight books in Vietnamese. Her books have been translated and published in over 20 countries and have won dozens of awards for literary quality as well as for encouraging peace and understanding, including Runner-Up fo the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in Fiction and a Lannan Literary Award for her "contribution to peace and reconciliation." She is the Peace Ambassador for Peace Trees Vietnam, an organization that works to remove unexploded bombs, as well as being a spokesperson for many other organizations working to heal the legacy of wars.

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