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 that I am a parent, I go out of my way to make sure that my son goes to visit his grandparents and participates in customs like the Lunar New Year celebration.

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

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 a particular vision of what the American experience was like. As someone coming from a war that was a preoccupation of Americans in the 1980s, it did strike me that since we were a part of that war, we should have a chance to talk about ourselves.

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

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

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

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