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y separately published work icon 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem selected work   poetry  
Issue Details: First known date: 2024... 2024 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Fifteen years after his best-selling, award-winning collection of stories The Boat, Nam Le returns to his great themes of identity and representation in a virtuosic debut book of poetry

'36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, says Le, a Vietnamese refugee to Australia, is ‘the book I need to write. The book I've been writing my whole life’. This book-length poem is an urgent, unsettling reckoning with identity and the violence of identity, embedded with racism, oppression and historical trauma. But it also addresses the violence in those assumptions – of being always assumed to be outside one’s home, country, culture or language. And the complex violence, for the diasporic writer who wants to address any of this, of language itself.

'Making use of multiple tones, moods, masks and camouflages, Le’s poetic debut moves with unpredictable and destabilising energy between the personal and political, honouring every convention of diasporic literature – in a virtuosic array of forms and registers – before shattering the form itself. Like The Boat, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem conjures its own terms of engagement, escapes our traps, slips our certainties. As self-indicting as it is scathing, hilarious as it is desperately moving, this is a singular, breakthrough book.' (Publication summary) 

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Cammeray, Cremorne - Mosman - Northbridge area, Sydney Northeastern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Simon and Schuster Australia , 2024 .
      image of person or book cover 7741054247042364324.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Amazon
      Extent: 80p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 6 March 2024
      ISBN: 9781761423369
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Knopf ,       2024 .
      image of person or book cover 8277893885399377553.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 5 March 2024.
      ISBN: 9780593537206 (hbk), 9780593537213 (ebk)
    • Edinburgh,
      c
      Scotland,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Canongate ,       2024 .
      image of person or book cover 298057028606930292.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 80p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 7 March 2024.
      ISBN: 9781805300762 (hbk), 1805300768 (hbk), 9781805300779 (ebk), 1805300776 (ebk)
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
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Works about this Work

36 Mirrors : Force Majeure by the Truckload Michael Hofmann , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 463 2024; (p. 45)
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Nam Le , 2024 selected work poetry 'Even in his first publication, the seven short stories of the rightly celebrated The Boat (2008), Nam Le was perhaps always most interested in creating an aura of violent unpredictability. He withheld consistency, offered cruxes, hit the reader with a blizzard of bold plots in settings so varied as to be practically contradictory – Hiroshima, Medellin, New York City, a fishing town on the Queensland coast. Where, as in the title story, Nam Le appears to relent and writes about what may have been his own experience (he was ferried to Australia as an infant), the baby dies. He is like a package determined not to contain what it says on the disclosure form; a letter that won’t be delivered to the stated address.' (Introduction)
Nam Le 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem André Dao , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 8 April 2024;
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Nam Le , 2024 selected work poetry

'Nam Le’s long-awaited follow-up to The Boat is restless in its craft – a book that understands both form and identity to be in constant motion.'
The Wait for the New Nam Le Is Over Geordie Williamson , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 9 March 2024; (p. 16)
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Nam Le , 2024 selected work poetry
y separately published work icon Nam Le on 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2024 27814749 2024 single work podcast interview

'Nam Le is one of Australia's foremost poets. His short story collection The Boat has been republished as a modern classic and is widely translated, anthologised, and taught. 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem is his first poetry collection.

'Nam has received major awards in America, Europe, and Australia, including the PEN/Malamud Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award, and the Melbourne Prize for Literature.' (Production summary)
y separately published work icon Nam Le Is Back Michael Williams (interviewer), 2024 27808632 2024 single work podcast interview

'When Nam Le’s debut book of short stories, The Boat, came out in 2008, it was met with unanimous praise and scooped up awards from around the world. Now, 16 years later, Nam has produced his follow up called 36 Ways to Write A Vietnamese Poem. This week, Michael sits down with Nam to discuss his latest work and the importance of violence in his conception of poetry and language.'  (Production summary)
Bold’, ‘extremely Fun’, ‘luminously Written’ : The Best Australian Books Out in March Imogen Dewey , Nigel Featherstone , Joseph Cummins , Steph Harmon , Lucy Clark , Sian Cain , Yvonne C Lam , Adele Dumont , Bridie Jabour , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 6 March 2024;
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Nam Le , 2024 selected work poetry ; The Silver River Jim Moginie , 2024 single work autobiography ; One Another Gail Jones , 2024 single work novel ; Appreciation Liam Pieper , 2024 single work novel ; Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband Kerstin Pilz , 2024 single work autobiography ; Servo : Tales from the Graveyard Shift David Goodwin , 2024 single work autobiography ; The Cancer Finishing School : Lessons in Laughter, Love and Resilience Peter Goldsworthy , 2024 single work autobiography ; Thanks for Having Me Emma Darragh , 2024 single work novel ; Lead Us Not Abbey Lay , 2024 single work novel ; Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed Mykaela Saunders , 2024 selected work short story
The Wait for the New Nam Le Is Over Geordie Williamson , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 9 March 2024; (p. 16)
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Nam Le , 2024 selected work poetry
Nam Le 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem André Dao , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 8 April 2024;
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Nam Le , 2024 selected work poetry

'Nam Le’s long-awaited follow-up to The Boat is restless in its craft – a book that understands both form and identity to be in constant motion.'
36 Mirrors : Force Majeure by the Truckload Michael Hofmann , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 463 2024; (p. 45)
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Nam Le , 2024 selected work poetry 'Even in his first publication, the seven short stories of the rightly celebrated The Boat (2008), Nam Le was perhaps always most interested in creating an aura of violent unpredictability. He withheld consistency, offered cruxes, hit the reader with a blizzard of bold plots in settings so varied as to be practically contradictory – Hiroshima, Medellin, New York City, a fishing town on the Queensland coast. Where, as in the title story, Nam Le appears to relent and writes about what may have been his own experience (he was ferried to Australia as an infant), the baby dies. He is like a package determined not to contain what it says on the disclosure form; a letter that won’t be delivered to the stated address.' (Introduction)
The Return of Nam Le: ‘As Long as I’m Terrifying Myself a Little Bit, I’m on the Right Track’ Imogen Dewey (interviewer), 2024 single work interview
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 28 February 2024;

'Sixteen years after his internationally lauded debut, the author of The Boat is back. He talks about writing under pressure, and why ‘authenticity’ is a trap' 
Shelf Reflection : Nam Le Nam Le , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , February 2024;

'Shelf Reflection is our series where we explore the bookshelves and reading habits of some of our favourite authors. In this latest instalment, Nam Le talks to us about poetry, re-reading books and why his latest release, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, is the book he has been writing his whole life.' (Introduction)
y separately published work icon Nam Le Is Back Michael Williams (interviewer), 2024 27808632 2024 single work podcast interview

'When Nam Le’s debut book of short stories, The Boat, came out in 2008, it was met with unanimous praise and scooped up awards from around the world. Now, 16 years later, Nam has produced his follow up called 36 Ways to Write A Vietnamese Poem. This week, Michael sits down with Nam to discuss his latest work and the importance of violence in his conception of poetry and language.'  (Production summary)
y separately published work icon Nam Le on 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2024 27814749 2024 single work podcast interview

'Nam Le is one of Australia's foremost poets. His short story collection The Boat has been republished as a modern classic and is widely translated, anthologised, and taught. 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem is his first poetry collection.

'Nam has received major awards in America, Europe, and Australia, including the PEN/Malamud Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award, and the Melbourne Prize for Literature.' (Production summary)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (8)
Last amended 8 Feb 2024 09:08:09
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