When I hear Khmer poets, when they recite their poems, I know what they're talking about, I get it right away.

I thought of the pillowcases as a symbol of love and loss, of retaining the memory of your loved one.

It's really hard when you read literature in a language that's not your own. There are all these cultural references you have to be born into that particular language to get.

Art is really about how you capture different things you see around you and bring them into forms and words and shapes and meaning.

Even if you look in the dictionary you know the meaning of the word or phrase, but there's still the feeling of it.

I think there are things I can't write in English that I wish I could write in Khmer.

I don't approach my writing or my work from an academic or analytical point of view. I do it for myself.