Cambodian-American author and poet Bungkong Tuong has written her debut novel, koan khmerThe story of an orphaned survivor of the Cambodian genocide trying to start a new life in the United States.
Tuong’s novel will be published by Curbstone/Northwestern University Press in August of this year. union college report. The text is loosely based on the life of Tuong, where the main character, Samnang Soc, learns to move on from his childhood trauma with the help of literature.
“koan khmer “It gives an unflinching voice to a distinctly Cambodian-American sensibility,” reads a statement from the publisher. Barnes & Noble. “Tuong creates a space of refugeehood that all Americans can visit in this Bildungsroman that breathes life into cultural knowledge destroyed by loss and grief.”
Born years before the communist Khmer Rouge regime killed around 3 million people in Cambodia, Tuong said he turned to literature for guidance as he tried to rebuild his life. union college report.
“Writing is a way for me to honor my family and share their stories of survival and love,” Tuong said. union college.
Tuong earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from California State University, Long Beach, and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Massachusetts. Since 2008, he has worked as an associate professor of English at Union College in New York. union college.
he is the author of a collection of poems Tough, so I was blessed. and the doctor will fix itThun Website To read.His work has been featured in World Literature Today, Copper Nickel, New York Quarterly, Massachusetts Review, The American Journal of Poetry, Carte Blanche, Consequence, The Lowell Review, Diode Poetry Journalamong others.
“As a child survivor of the Cambodian genocide, I write about this history and its impact on Cambodian Americans. It is a way for me to make sense of my life, my family, and my place in the United States. “Writing is a way to map the coordinates of your being,” Thun says. Website To read.
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