Laura O'Connor

Weaving in conversations with Vietnamese author Nguyen Binh Phương and publisher Kim Tràn of Major Books, Laura O'Connor does a deep dive into Phương's novel Những đứa trẻ chết già, which has recently been released in English by Major Books as The Young Die Old, translated by Khai Q Nguyễn. O'Connor explores why it takes so long for major homegrown Vietnamese literary titles to reach the Anglosphere, the necessity of incorporating myths and traditions specific to Vietnam in storytelling, and wider orientalisation of Vietnamese-language literature in global publishing.