My identity is deeply intertwined with being a refugee because that's the first experience that I remember..

Refugees have been displaced by war or natural disaster or political catastrophes, and they are much more threatening because they are reminders to p….

I've never stopped being a refugee..

No one wants for their child to become a refugee. It's an awful experience..

In the United States, the immigrant experience occupies a very central place in American mythology. And sometimes, that place wavers between acceptan….

In the United States, we want to believe we will never become a country of refugees..

When I was growing up, I cared very little for the customs of my parents, the special things that we're supposed to do as Vietnamese people. But now ….

I think all immigrants and refugees are preoccupied with memories to one degree or another. But again, this question of how much to remember and how ….

By college, I had a really grand, preposterous vision of myself as becoming a writer, but I don't think I had the discipline or the patience - or the….

Refugees are threatening, not just to Americans, but also in many countries the world over. And it's partially because, unlike immigrants, refugees d….

I think my parents' lives are worthy of writing about. I don't think my life is particularly worthy of writing about..

Immigrants, as troubling as they are to some people, are an integral part of what the American Dream is supposed to be. They're understandable to a c….

Growing up in the U.S., I was certainly deeply aware of the power of American media, specifically Hollywood and television, in terms of broadcasting ….

You have to wear a different face when you're interacting with the larger culture. And you can be more of yourself at home or in the local market or ….

People may be vaguely aware that there's suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan, but simply because the media are filled with American-centric versions, w….

Immigrants who come to a country are going to lose something, for sure, but they hope to gain a great deal by making this journey, whereas refugees b….

Hollywood in many ways serves as the unofficial ministry of propaganda for the United States..

If you're a so-called minority writer, the temptation is to write for the majority... I refuse to do that..

Writers from the majority can assume their audiences know what they're talking about - they don't have to explain things, whereas minority writers ar….

I never called myself a writer because it seemed so pretentious - a writer was what somebody else called you, a title bestowed..

40, 50 years ago, Americans - the majority of Americans did not want to accept these Vietnamese refugees who they saw as completely foreign. Now ther….