Love Letters to the Dirty South By Thảo Hà

A lot of people, including myself, have been excited, waiting for the release of Thảo Hà's memoir Love Letters to the Dirty South, which has now had its release today--my own copy nice and crisp, ready to be read.

Like I think other people, I know maybe a little of this story, a bit here, a piece there, knowing about Thảo Hà and what she does in the Vietnamese American community, and this very real piece of her life, chuyện tình yêu này--and want to read this ode to Ha's dirty south, if she's willing to share.

"Love Letters to the Dirty South is a memoir about what it means to love, long for, and lose someone incarcerated. Offering a counternarrative to the typical immigrant’s story, Thảo Hà deftly uses her sociology background to explore refugee trauma and prison injustice, demonstrating the impact of unconditional love when navigating the dehumanizing system of mass incarceration. In this stunning debut, she shares her story of reckless youth, love reclaimed and tragically lost, and the power of words to transcend boundaries with unflinching honesty, insight, and conviction"

Early Reads And Reviews For The New Memoir

 "An ele­giac love story and med­it­a­tion on prison advocacy, Love Let­ters to the Dirty South is a per­cept­ive mem­oir about a Viet­namese daugh­ter’s love and loss." ~Foreword Reviews

"A book that brims with empathy toward often-overlooked communities, including refugees, people of color, the incarcerated, and those who love them. This poignant memoir deserves a place in every library collection." ~Library Journal, Starred Review

“Thao Ha has written a miracle of a memoir about love in the time of mass incarceration. She writes with artistry and wisdom about growing up as a refugee, finding a community in Houston’s Little Saigon, and struggling to overcome gang violence. Most of all, she crafts a tender portrait of the remarkable man she found, lost, and found again: Hoang Vu Tran. Ha loses Vu, as his loved ones call him, when he is sentenced to sixty years in prison for aggravated assault, and when she in turn survives a gunshot wound in a pool hall. But, twenty years later, they reconnect in an unforgettable series of letters. Both Ha and Vu are exceptional writers, and their correspondence captures a love story for the ages. Ha’s memoir is as dramatic as any Hollywood film, and as devastating as anything I’ve read lately. To borrow one of Ha’s own memorable phrases, her book is ‘a luminous tragedy.’ It is also a triumph.” ~Daniel A. Gross, story editor, The New Yorker

“An urgent, lyrical coming-of-age love story that not only spans decades, but also walls. A humanizing ode to those who create their own light when facing carceral injustice.” ~Carolyn Huynh, author of Fetal Position and The Fortunes of Jaded Women

“Raw and poetic, Love Letters to the Dirty South is unlike any other story you’ve read before. More than a love story, it is a compassionate polemic against social injustice and a revelatory coming-of-age memoir that will stay with you long after you’ve closed its pages.” ~Eric Nguyen, author of Things We Lost to the Water

“A necessary counterpoint to the model minority myth and a beautiful, deeply felt exploration of young love as it survives the harshness of life and becomes a bond that transcends time, distance, and even death.” ~Thi Bui, award-winning author of The Best We Could Do

“This memorable book chronicles the strength of immigrant families and the plight of a prison population, the broken hopes, the turning locks, the steadfast spirits.” ~Laura Kalpakian, author of Undesirable: The Vietnam War and a Father’s Battle for Justice

“Thao’s story is not just a great American story but a great human story filled with heartbreak, resiliency, and most importantly, deep love. Her Homeric tale and relationship with Vu is evidence that a broken heart never fully heals, and because of that, it is always open.” ~Bao Nguyen, director of The Greatest Night in Pop

“Filled with hard-earned wisdom, Thao’s coming-of-age story is an invitation to love and be loved. Refugee life, youthhood, love, loss, and grief are recognizable and heartbreaking ingredients that make for a dope read. I hold her familiar and courageous story close to my heart, as it reminds me of life’s fragile miracles.” ~Lac Su, author of I Love Yous Are For White People

“Moving, electrifying, and unforgettable, Love Letters to the Dirty South leaves me breathless, devastated, and inspired. Thao Ha is a talented writer whose voice is a healing gift to our broken world.” ~Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author of The Mountains Sing: A Novel

Upcomming Events

Thảo Hà at XIA Books and Cafe
Thursday. October 22, 2026 | 6:00 pm
XIA Books & Cafe
422 University Avenue West,
Saint Paul, MN 55103

Read more 

Thảo Hà at the Austin Public Library
Saturday. November 21, 2026 | 1:00 pm
Austin Public Library—Spicewood Springs Branch
8637 Spicewood Springs Rd,
Austin,TX 78759

Read more

Rep. Dave Min: "We should be leading the future, not subsidizing the horse and buggy."

 

"China is dominating the clean energy sector, creating a clear national security issue, even as Repubs keep doubling down on aging and expensive fossil fuel technologies. Clean energy is the future. It’s getting cheaper every day and the economic case is clear. We should be leading the future, not subsidizing the horse and buggy."

Mixed Roots Writers on Multiracial Identity & Both/And Belonging

I've already started reading some of the essays and I love how honest they are. From a TRA perspective this definitely speaks to me:

"29 personal essays exploring mixed identity, belonging, family, racism, community and the paradoxical ways of being in the world

“An unprecedented ode to the wide range of mixed-root experiences and what is shared across difference. Required reading for anyone who has ever been asked what are you? I want everyone to read this.”
—Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood and The Dry Season


Multiracial people are everywhere—but so often their stories are oversimplified, overlooked, or left out of the narrative altogether. Mixed Roots: Writers on Multiracial Identity & Both/And Belonging collects 29 voices from different generations, geographies, and mixes of race and ethnicity. Combining powerful personal narratives with community-oriented perspectives, Mixed Roots explores themes of inherited belief systems, racism, whiteness, migration, language, trauma, ancestry, and healing.

When society so often wants to divide us into either/or categories, Mixed Roots reminds us that multiracial experiences are complex and can be told in different ways. This anthology engages with the familiar questions of “what are you?” or “where do you belong?” with nuance, dispelling the idea that there is ever one right way to identify. In a time of increased polarization, Mixed Roots invites more of us to examine the historical legacies and harm caused by racism within ourselves and our communities.

With compelling, intimate, lyrical and conversational prose, the voices in Mixed Roots honor the realities we’ve inherited around race, while pushing against old assumptions— encouraging readers to embrace paradox and non-binary belonging."

Find it at your favorite book-seller: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/828233/mixed-roots-by-anne-liu-kellor/

Jenny Yang, CBS, And Laughing In Grocery Stores (AKA PBS Had to Get In On It Too)

A great story about comedian Jenny Yang on CBS (who I happened to miss when up in Minneapolis unfortunately...):

A stand-up and sketch comedy veteran whose acting credits include the Netflix show “The Brothers Sun,” Yang is living a dream of “the most politically and creatively fulfilling project” she’s ever done. The Good Egg Immigrant Grocery Store Standup Comedy Tour is partly her reaction to the immigration crackdowns by President Donald Trump’s administration impacting Asian, Latino and Black communities. She wanted to entertain in cities with immigrant enclaves where she could give back. So, Yang and her team chose grocery store stops and nonprofits to donate to based on recommendations from local organizations.

The unorthodox tour has grown from five performances to nearly 20, far beyond her expectations. It started June 5 in Los Angeles, where Yang lives, and has taken her to Minneapolis, Phoenix and other cities. After stops in New York and San Francisco, the tour will wrap Sept. 26 back in L.A. with Yang filming a performance for a proposed comedy special.

She touches on topics ranging from infertility to awareness of immigrant experiences in the U.S. While comedians are divided on whether stand-up should stand down on politics, Yang has always spoken on it.

Read it in full at: https://www.cbs17.com/entertainment-news/ap-comedian-jenny-yang-uses-a-comedy-tour-to-uplift-immigrants-one-grocery-store-at-a-time/

You can also check out an interview with PBS: https://www.facebook.com/reel/2272976110136019 

Get more Jenny Yang at https://www.jennyyang.tv/

Genny Lim x Music Without Walls: San Francisco Poet Laureate Series No. 8 x Foreword By Don Bajema

 

If you get a chance check out this new offering by Genny Lim, where you can also pre-order here: https://citylights.com/poetry-city-lights-published/music-without-walls-sf-poet-laureate/

Music Without Walls: San Francisco Poet Laureate Series No. 8

by Genny Lim
Foreword by: Don Bajema

Overview

San Francisco’s Poet Laureate offers an impassioned insider’s personal homage to America’s indigenous music, jazz.

“Her poetry is a flame of truth, joy, compassion–she points to the roads we must take to bring about change and unity. I consider Genny as a key poet for the future.”–Juan Felipe Herrera, MacArthur Fellow, Poet Laureate of the USA Emeritus

Music Without Walls is a love poem and praise song for the pioneers of the indigenous American music genre called jazz. As Lim frames it, jazz is the soundtrack and the musical metaphor of our country’s confrontations with race through time, and the poems collected here pay homage to many of the innovators, such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and others. Lim’s poems capture the essence of their music and of her own personal experience as a listener and a collaborator who has performed onstage with some of the jazz greats, such as Max Roach, Herbie Lewis, Francis Wong, and Jon Jang. This collection will resonate with those already familiar with the music itself and the stories and styles of its various heroes, while readers who are new to them will find a welcoming doorway to an exciting new world.

In The News

Reviews

"In Music Without Walls, Genny Lim poetically illustrates the transcendent presence of Black Music both in the context of everyday life and sweeping world events. Today, as home-grown fascists attempt to disappear American slavery and its immoral legacy from the history books, suppress and eliminate voting rights, divide and conquer citizens via what W.E.B. Dubois called 'the problem of the color line, ' poet Genny Lim gives us her poetic manifesto. More than ever, we need the renegades that the poet praises, 'Who cracked music wide open / Inside the belly of the beast to rip / The funk and junk out of the Blues /This book's an American love story. . . .' Every American should read this book."–Michael Warr, editor, Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin 

"I don't think I have ever read anything about jazz that has touched me or revealed as much about the music in quite the way that these poems do. . . . Every poem is a musical portrait, a love letter, an invitation, a call and response. There is such a depth of understanding and a wisdom and love for the artists who have inspired this work."–Sumi Tonooka, pianist and composer

"Genny's poems evoke the spirits of giants, masters who've left us in the physical realm but who live on in our hearts thanks to their recordings and to the inspiring poetry of writers and poets like Genny Lim."–Art Sato, "In Your Ear," KPFA

Author Talk: Bao Phi with Đạp Xe / Ride ---- Saturday, December 5 • 1 PM - 2:30 PM

From: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/author-talk-bao-phi-with-ap-xe-ride-tickets-1999728063469

XIA Books & CaféSaint Paul, MN
Saturday, December 5  •  1 PM - 2:30 PM

Overview

Join XIA Books for an exclusive author talk and visit from Minnesota author, Bao Phi, in his new children's book Đạp Xe / Ride

Join XIA for a conversation and book signing event with Minnesota author Bao Phi in his new children's book "Đạp Xe / Ride"

From the Caldecott Honor-winning creators of A Different Pond comes a new picture book that encompasses three generations, two languages, and one universal experience. This bilingual story in English and Vietnamese explores a child’s trust, a parent’s guiding hand, and the paradox of loving and letting go.

Learning to ride a bike requires a leap of faith, and as a father teaches his child to ride, the child worries that Dad will let go before they’re ready. But with patience and persistence, father and child learn together that pedaling and letting go are part of the same thrilling ride. 

 

From https://dvan.org/events/accented-56-375/:

ÁCCENTED | Fighting for Collective Freedom: Deportation Defense in Southeast Asian Communities

Join DVAN for ÁCCENTED‘s Season 7 opener with guests Thi Bui & Thao Ha! We’ll discuss deportation defense in SE Asian communities and more.

EVENT DETAILS

Thursday, September 17, 2026 • 6:00 PM PT / 9:00 PM ET

This event is FREE. Please register in advance to receive a link to join the virtual conversation.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Thi Bui is a writer and artist from Việt Nam, California, and New York, now planting roots in New Orleans. Best known for her graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do, which tells the story of her family amidst Việt Nam’s struggles for independence, she has also been a longtime educator in public high schools, a professor of comics, a public speaker, an organizer and artist-activist, an ambivalent sculptor and puppeteer, a fledgling screenwriter, and an award-winning illustrator of children’s books and comics journalism.

Thao Ha is a Vietnamese refugee, sociology professor, author, filmmaker, and non-profit leader. She is the current board president of the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA), board chair of the Doan Foundation, and founder/executive director of Collective Freedom. Love Letters to the Dirty South is her forthcoming memoir about what it means to love, long for, and lose someone incarcerated.

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and numerous other awards. His most recent publication is A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial. His other books are the sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed; a short story collection, The Refugees; Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction); and Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America. He has also published Chicken of the Sea, a children’s book written in collaboration with his son, Ellison. He is a University Professor at the University of Southern California. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, he is also the editor of The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives, and the forthcoming children’s book Simone illustrated by Minnie Phan.
Website | Instagram

Philip Nguyen is the co-host for ÁCCENTED: Dialogues in Diaspora presented by the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN). He teaches Asian American Studies in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, and is the Executive Director for the Vietnamese American Roundtable, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in California’s South Bay Area. Philip has formerly served as the President of the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA) and as the Co-Chair of the Young Vietnamese Americans (YVA) Committee for PIVOT – The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization.

ABOUT DVAN

The Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN) is dedicated to moving the voices and stories of the Vietnamese diaspora from the margins to the center. For over 20 years, DVAN has uplifted diasporic writers and artists through community events, writing residencies, and publishing opportunities, ensuring their perspectives reshape and expand the broader cultural narrative.

ABOUT ÁCCENTED

ÁCCENTED is DVAN’s acclaimed talk show and podcast, hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and community leader Philip Nguyen. Since launching in 2020, ÁCCENTED has become a global platform for dynamic, thought-provoking conversations that amplify the voices of writers, poets, visual artists, and other cultural producers of the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian diaspora.

Please note that by registering for this event, we may contact you about DVAN news, events, and opportunities in the future.

Free Palestine + American Doctor

FREE PALESTINE

I guess at the end of the day, some people just don't care about the genocide. 

Thankfully people are leaving those people in droves.

And thankfully, people are making movies like AMERICAN DOCTOR.

This unflinching documentary follows three doctors from the US — one Palestinian, one Jewish, one Zoroastrian — who volunteer to save lives in Gaza. For more about the Toronto International Film Festival and our year-round programming at TIFF Lightbox, visit http://tiff.net. Subscribe to watch more from TIFF:    / tiff  

A Little Jisoo. A Little Hwasa. Because That's What You Really Wanted.

 

JISOO Official 📱 / https://www.jisoo.app    / @sooyaaa__     / sooyaaa__     / jisoo     / officialblissoo   https://weibo.com/u/7458000931 https://www.jisoo.io/ #JISOO #지수 #BLISSOO #CLICK #20260904

#화사 #HWASA #GoodGoodbye #싸이흠뻑쇼2026 #SUMMERSWAG2026 #인천 #PNATION #피네이션

• HWASA Official Instagram:   / _mariahwasa  
• HWASA Official TikTok:   / official.hwasa  
• HWASA Official Fan Community: https://hwasa.bstage.in/

Babylon Bee Takes Pot Shots At Asian American Drivers For "Laughs"

Yay! More racist "fun" jokes at the expense of Asian Americans. 

I know I know--I'm just being sensitive....

From the googles when searching up "racist stereotype asian american driving+effects on lawsuits and traffic tickets":

Effects on Traffic Tickets

Despite having no discernable difference in driving habits or speeding behaviors compared to white motorists, minority groups face strict punitive enforcement due to racial profiling. For Asian Americans, the disparities are notably sharp: [1]

Disproportionate Citations: Large-scale traffic data demonstrates a severe ticketing bias. A landmark multi-year study of over 11 million traffic stops published in Research Square revealed that while all nonwhite drivers were more likely to be cited, the disparity was largest for Asian drivers. [1]
The "Rural" Penalty: In Texas and New Jersey highway patrol studies, Asian American drivers consistently faced 1.5 to 2.5 times higher odds of receiving a citation rather than a warning compared to white drivers caught traveling at the exact same speeds. This gap peaks dramatically in rural jurisdictions where the drivers are less demographically represented. [1, 2]
Increased Fine Amounts: According to data from the University of Michigan/Science Journal using high-frequency GPS tracking, minority motorists are charged 34% more expensive fines for identical infractions. [1]

⚖️ Effects on Lawsuits & Civil Cases

In personal injury lawsuits and car accident litigation, stereotypes function as invisible but heavily weighted factors in determining fault, liability, and financial damages.

Weaponizing Implicit Bias: Jurors and insurance adjusters carry societal tropes into the courtroom. When an Asian American is involved in a car accident, opposing counsel can subtly leverage the "bad driver" stereotype via confirmation bias. An ordinary, minor error that might be forgiven as a simple accident for a white driver is more easily framed as chronic incompetence or reckless driving when the defendant is Asian.
Inflated Civil Liability: Because civil lawsuits operate on the "preponderance of evidence" standard (determining who is more likely at fault), a jury impacted by implicit bias may unevenly distribute fault. This leads to higher comparative negligence percentages assigned to Asian drivers, drastically reducing their payout if they are injured, or inflating the damages they are forced to pay out.
Civil Rights Retaliation: The intersection of traffic enforcement and systemic racism has also triggered major civil rights lawsuits. For example, a major federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against Siskiyou County, California, where local police were caught disproportionately targeting Asian American drivers in traffic stops, using minor infractions to cut off water access and place liens on property in predominantly Asian neighborhoods. [1]

📊 The Reality vs. The Myth

Data compiled by organizations like Goldsea shows that Asian Americans have the lowest traffic fatality rate in the United States (2.53 deaths per 100,000 people). While making up roughly 6% of the U.S. population, they contribute to only 1% of total traffic deaths. Furthermore, international studies from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) show that Asian-born drivers actually carry half the accident risk of their Western-born peers, proving that the stereotype is rooted entirely in cultural xenophobia rather than data. [1, 2]

---

Here's a link to their shitty joke article: https://babylonbee.com/news/tiger-woods-license-suspended-after-court-determines-he-is-half-asian

I like Ben. It's His Story. And Those Czech Viets...They're Okay Too

 

Ben Quach fled the Vietnam War, started a business in Oregon and now runs a thriving fabrication company at age 75. Read the full story here: https://www.kgw.com/article/money/bus... Subscribe:    / kgwnews8   Watch the latest KGW newscast: https://www.kgw.com/watch Get the KGW app: https://kgw.com/appredirect

The 83,000-strong Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic represents the third largest ethnic-minority in the country. The first generation of Vietnamese were sent here as indentured workers, as a form of payment for the country’s help in the war. Following the fall of communism, these Vietnamese began establishing their own businesses. They made their children learn Czech and gave them new opportunities. A whole new generation of Czech-Vietnamese is breaking new ground, veering away from the traditional jobs, embracing their heritage and showcasing the best of diversity and integration. 0:00 Introduction 1:17 The Animal Lover 3:35 The Czech-Vietnamese artist 6:40 A touch of Vietnam in Prague 9:21 Creating content for Vietnamese community 12:26 Asian ideas, European life 15:00 Shining a light on Vietnamese culture 17:09 Exploring Vietnamese history in Prague 20:49 Home for Oliver ========= ABOUT THE SHOW: The New Locals brings us stories of the different ethnic communities who’ve made their home in foreign lands around the world - people who migrated and over time, become one of the locals.

For more, SUBSCRIBE to CNA INSIDER! https://cna.asia/insideryoutubesub Follow CNA INSIDER on: Instagram:   / cnainsider   Facebook:   / cnainsider   Website: https://cna.asia/cnainsider