Khanh Ha's Blog

The Leper Colony

The letter said, “Madame Thi Lan is very ill. Be kindly advised of our necessary action to be taken for gravely ill residents. This will be the only correspondence from this office to our resident’s family concerned. Respectfully.” Having taken ten days by postal mail, it arrived from the village office that oversaw the leper colony where her mother had been an inhabitant for the past three years.

The Lady of Dien Bien Phu and the Senegalese Giant

She sat by the window of her hillside stilt house with a puddle of afternoon sunlight in her lap, her hands resting on a spindle across her thighs. The wall clock chimed five times. In another hour, the fog would move in now that it was the month of March, and the warmth of the day and the last glimmer of sun would be gone. She would wake up in the early morning and the fog still hung in the valley and the cold made a film of ice in the basin out back.

The Blue-Ghost Fireflies

It’s late in the afternoon when the funeral procession shows up on the road that goes past Old Lung’s dwelling. Standing outside his abode and watching the cortege move along slowly, the coffin bearers shaded by the setting sun, I remember years before watching men carrying new caskets to the front, time and again, shouldering the palls as they climbed the hill, the long line of soldiers bearing the coffins silhouetted against sunset, moving slowly up the hill slope that grew wild with passion flowers like yellow daubs of fresh paint.

Asian American Literature Fans – Megareview for November 19, 2015

It's never too late for a review! A review for "The Demon who Peddled Longing," appeared this month in Asian American Literature Fans.

Size-Twelve Boots

Ha’s Size-Twelve Boots is the featured short story in this year’s issue of VIETNOW NATIONAL MAGAZINE. Published once a year as a four-colored, glossy magazine with national distribution, VIETNOW MAGAZINE is the mouthpiece of VietNow National Headquarters, a US national veterans organization helping American veterans and the families of the veterans since 1980s. A version of the print magazine is available on the web.

Finalist of The William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing

Khanh Ha's novella, "Mrs. Rossi’s Dream" from his new novel “In The U Minh Forest” (presently with his agent) is a finalist of The William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing novella category. An excerpt of the novella will be published early next year in The Double Dealer, the annual literary journal of the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society.

This novella was sought after earlier this year by Amazon Kindle Singles, its New York-based editors having expressed enthusiasm in launching it as a Kindle Singles.

Best Indie Lit New England

Best Indie Lit New England is a print publication series showcasing the best fiction and poetry by independent journals in New England.

The Silence of Knowing

The year she turned seventeen Kim Ly met Annabella, a classmate of mixed racial parentage. She had brown skin and fuzzy black hair from her African American blood. Though her mother was Vietnamese, Annabella’s face had no Asian features. Her broad shoulders were particularly brawny when she wore a close-fitting shirt, and she loved tight shirts. She was taller than most girls in the class. In skirts with knee-high white stockings, her long legs loped in happy strides.

Another Realm

From that moment he knew a rapist was no different from an opium addict, and a virgin girl, like Lan, was bạch phiến―heroin.

Black April: An Interview with Author Khanh Ha

"He gives us a rare insight into the war from the Vietnamese perspective, and he discusses the scars the war left upon his birthplace. His compassion for his people is evident and abundant, and he reminds us that atrocities like what the Communists did to Vietnam still happen today. He is a voice for empathy, and I am truly honored to now give you my interview with Khanh Ha."