Recent Reviews and Spotlights
A diaCritics spotlight on
A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure
“Intensely political, Nguyen’s poems critique the legacies of American chemical warfare in SE Asia, the restricted freedoms of women in Vietnam, and the disappointments of the American dream and the Canadian dream. But the collection is also joyful and energetic as it narrates her mother’s adventures and love affairs as she traveled with an all female flying motorcycle stunt troupe….” —Sydney Van To deputy editor for DVAN’s diaCritics
This video spotlight, beginning at the 1:12 mark, is part of the Accented Series “Writers in Diaspora” featuring Ly Ky Tran and Violet Kupersmith, emerging writers with new books released this past year, in conversation with Viet Thanh Nguyen.
“This rain reminds me of rain”: Contemplating the Archive in Hoa Nguyen’s A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure
A conversation with and review by Kim Jacobs-Beck on Constant Critic.
"KJB: One thing that jumped out at me reading the book was that it feels archival. There’s something about archival research—you never feel like you have the complete story. After a while, if you’re a sympathetic researcher, you realize that you only have what exists on paper, what exists as a record, but that there’s more that you’ll never recover. I think you captured that feeling in the book. Was that something you were aiming for, or is it a by-product of the fragmentary nature of what you were able to find?”
Author Talk at Lost City Books:
Hoa Nguyen discusses A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure with guest, DC-area poet Elizabeth Black
An incredible conversation hosted by Lost City Books on A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure with Hoa Nguyen, Elizabeth Black, and Shady Rose
Asia Media International reviews A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure
“Motherhood is the present, the past, and the future. When one finds themself wanting to learn more about motherhood, it sends you down a paper trail of memories and stories. It is confusion, disconnection, unbelonging, and belonging all at once.” —Angeline Kek on A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure
