Often when people tell their story, they talk about their strengths and resiliency. It's really about their determination and their aspiration to survive and live.

Sometimes I fantasize about learning to write in Khmer. Because if I could write in Khmer, my perspective would be very different, because I'm both an outsider and insider and I see the writing in a different way. My description would be different from, say, a local writer.

I'm very connected to the story, the history, and the trauma people experience.

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

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

If I were really fluent and born into the English language, I would probably become a greater writer.

This is my first collaboration [with Mary Hamill] so I'm going to learn how it's going to work.