AWARD-WINNING CO-AUTHORS • AUTHOR of UNDERNEATH • PEN OPEN BOOKS AWARD WINNER • PEN USA NONFICTION BOOK AWARD FINALIST • Co-Authors Lily Hoàng and Vi Khi Nào present TIMBER AND LUA
Ten short stories written by Lily Hoàng and Vi Khi Nào explore a range of styles from love stories to speculative fiction and fairy tales.
Timber and Lụa is an experimental collaboration between Lily Hoàng and Vi Khi Nào, blending self-translations across Vietlish, Vietnamese, and English to create a unique diasporic literary genre. Comprised of ten short stories, the collection explores a range of styles from love stories to speculative fiction and fairy tales. These stories reflect themes of generational trauma, identity, and cultural clash, offering a dynamic, eccentric range of narratives: love stories woven through fragmented memories, a blend of folklore and fantasy, Vietnamese-American identities reimagined in a post-apocalyptic world, and an exploration of how meaning transforms in self-translation. Similar to Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov, who translated their own work (from English to French and from Russian to English, respectively), Hoàng and Nào extend that makeshift “tradition” by hybridizing their translation to graft the genetic material of one language (English) and the genetic material of another language (Vietnamese) to produce a new literary diasporic genre. Timber and Lụa coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the Fall of Saigon (1975–2025), as a diasporic literary contribution and commemorative celebration.
