In Cambodian culture the male figure in the family is important; when you lose your husband you lose your economic ability to survive.

I think that through the narratives of other people you get closer to your own.

I have a great advantage: I write from the perspective of my own voice. I'm not copying anyone's voice. It's my voice. I have the advantage of being a writer of English as a second language.

I'm doing a collaborative project with another artist, Mary Hamill. My project is to gather the oral history of war widows, starting with the women of my village, Kop Nymit.

When you're reading from a different language that's different from your own, it's not the same as being fluent.

It's like you're organically developing yourself, moving out, metamorphosing into other forms depending on where you are, what you're doing at the time, how you want to play on things.

The family I grew up in had three generations of widows.