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Hoa Pham Hoa Pham i(A46 works by) (a.k.a. Hoa Pham-Davis)
Born: Established: 1972 Hobart, Southeast Tasmania, Tasmania, ;
Gender: Female
Heritage: Vietnamese
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Works By

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1 [Review] Funny Ethnics Hoa Pham , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Kalliope X , Summer no. 5 2023;

— Review of Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel

'We start at the beginning with the title. “Funny  Ethnics” is a self reflexive nod to the non-Asian audience about to read the book with a promise to be amusing with cross cultural humour. Le lives up to this promise and more, with her insightful voice through Sylvia her protagonist. Non Asians may laugh at some of the foibles Le illustrates but Asians would too but also have ‘a ha’ moments of recognition.' (Introduction)          

1 1 y separately published work icon Empathy Hoa Pham , Cambridge : MIT Press , 2023 25428269 2023 single work novel science fiction

'A science-fiction novel involving clones, a psychic, and empathy as a recreational drug.

'We have always been we. Then they forced us to become you and I...

'Empathy consists of two stories told in parallel.

'Vuong is one of five Vietnamese clones that have come of age at 25. The Department in Hanoi is allowing them to meet after being separated for twenty years. Lian has murdered her foster father after being forced to eat meat. Geraldine is dying of cancer in Australia. Giang and Khanh were brought up together as twins in New Zealand and are telepathic. They have been used for research over their lifetimes. Vuong discovers that the data kept on all of them has been used to develop empathy, the latest party drug.

'My meets Truong in Berlin who introduces her to empathy which makes the user supersensitive to other people's feelings. My's mother is a cleaner at CHESS, a multinational chemical company, and My comes to believe her mother is ex-Stasi and an industrial spy for Vietnamese government. My comes down from the drug after hearing about the saturation point when the penetration of empathy would be such that the world's population would be pacified. She discovers that Truong is actually the one who is in the pay of the Vietnamese government and her mother is just a cleaner. She tries to out the conspiracy in the media but no one believes her...' (Publication summary)

1 If You See the Buddha in Suburbia Kill Him : Anguli Ma : A Gothic Tale Hoa Pham , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Like an Australian Writer 2021;
1 A Cloud Floating in a Piece of Paper : An Excerpt from Admission, a Memoir Hoa Pham , 2021 extract autobiography
— Appears in: Kalliope X , Spring no. 1 2021;
1 Quarantine Hoa Pham , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Peril : An Asian-Australian Journal , no. 42 2020;
1 We’re a Movement Not a Moment : Peril Magazine and Asian Australian Cultural Production Hoa Pham , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: Peril : An Asian-Australian Journal , March no. 41 2020;

'I founded Peril in 2006 when there were no other Asian Australian specific publishing platforms. Nowadays fourteen years later there are five publications, Peril, Mascara Literary Review, Liminal, Djed Press and Pencilled In. Which leads to the question, are publications like Peril still necessary? This article sums up Peril’s history, reflects on where we are now and whether Peril is still necessary in the Australian cultural landscape.' (Introduction)

1 Vietnam Is No Longer a War – It’s Entertainment Hoa Pham , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , February 2020;

— Review of Rolling Thunder Vietnam Bryce Hallett , 2014 single work musical theatre

'The latest musical due to hit the Arts Centre in Melbourne Australia during March 2020, is Rolling Thunder Vietnam. ‘Rolling Thunder’ was the code name used by the Americans for their campaign to carpet bomb North Vietnam during the Vietnam/American War. An equivalent would be naming a song and dance show Operation Desert Storm – the Musical. This would be unthinkable. But clearly Vietnam is no longer a war. It’s entertainment.'  (Introduction)

1 Hoa Pham Reviews No Friend But The Mountains by Behrouz Boochani Hoa Pham , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , March no. 23 2019;

— Review of No Friend but the Mountains : Writing From Manus Prison Behrouz Boochani , Omid Tofighian (translator), 2018 selected work prose

'Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish-Iranian journalist, playwright and activist whose book, No Friend But the Mountain was written by text message over a couple of years on Manus Prison. The resulting work is a powerful, readable memoir with poetry that is a searing indictment of the offshore detention regime. His other works of documentation include writing for The Guardian, a play ‘Manus‘, and a film ‘Chauka, please Tell us the Time‘.  (Introduction)

1 We Are Vietnamese. A Reflection on Being Vietnamese-Australian Hoa Pham , 2018 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Portal , August vol. 15 no. 1/2 2018; (p. 87-91)

'Hoa Pham is an author and psychologist. Her novella, Wave (2015), was translated into Vietnamese by Phương Nam, a Vietnamese publishing house. The Other Shore (2014) won the Vive La Novella Prize. The Lady of the Realm (2017) is her latest novel and is a historical fiction set in Vietnam from the 1950s to the present day.  She is also the founder of Peril, an online Asian Australian arts and culture magazine.

‘We are Vietnamese. A Reflection on Being Vietnamese-Australian’ is a creative non-fiction piece concerning being a Vietnamese-Australian author in the present day. It explores Pham’s meeting with Phạm Thị Hoài, a Vietnamese author in exile in Berlin, and her encounters with Thích Nhất Hạnh the Vietnamese Zen Master. It also interrogates the cultural perceptions of Vietnam in Australia and Pham’s own subject position as a published Asian Australian author.'  (Publication abstract)

1 Are We There yet? Asian Australians in the Arts Hoa Pham , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Peril : An Asian-Australian Journal , August no. 34 2018;

'In 2018 there seems to be a renaissance of Asian-Australian content in theatre, TV and literature. With the success and high profile of individuals such as Benjamin Law and Alice Pung, and with a diversity of offerings across mainstream platforms, it seems that there’s never been a better time for Asian-Australian representation.'  (Introduction)

1 Dear Xuan Hoa Pham , 2017 single work prose
— Appears in: Peril : An Asian-Australian Journal , June no. 30 2017;

'Dear Xuan,

'I write this letter to you my daughter in this old fashioned way on hard copy so it cannot be altered or deleted from a distance. You are now eighteen and you deserve to know the truth from your mother and your mother’s mother about the peace in our time.' (Introduction)

1 1 y separately published work icon Wave Hoa Pham , North Melbourne : Spinifex Press , 2016 8601596 2016 single work novella

'We were we until you made us me and you… .

'Midori and Âu Cô are international university students in Melbourne. They play at being silver dragons birthing pearls from their mouths. They are united by loneliness. Midori’s parents are killed by the tsunami in Fukushima and soon after Midori and Âu Cô witness a university shooting. Midori ends up in a psychiatric hospital, not able to cope with the double blow.

'Âu Cô is courted by a Vietnamese-Australian boy (Dzung) who has also survived the shooting. Dzung is unaware of Midori and Âu Cô’s relationship and pressured by his parents asks Âu Cô to marry him. Midori is silenced and unable to out herself and Âu Cô she understands too well the pressures of family. Âu Cô accepts since her own family wants to migrate to Australia. Midori absconds before the wedding to the Blue Mountains. She suicides close to the Three Sisters. Âu Cô is left to work through her guilt. She falls pregnant to Dzung and after she gives birth she looks closely at his skin. The little baby has silver dragon scales running down his neck.' (Publication summary)

2 The Lady of the Realm Hoa Pham , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Review of Australian Fiction , vol. 18 no. 6 2016;

'One day there will be peace in Vietnam. But not before more war.

'Touched by the Lady of the Realm, Liên dreams of bones and bodies under the sea. The prescient warnings from the Lady weigh heavily on Liên, who is burdened by her inability to save everyone. But she knows that the Lady speaks most to those who listen.

'Set against the background of the Vietnam/American war we follow Liên’s path across five decades that are punctuated by endless war and suffering.

'Yet even in the most desperate of times, Liên refuses to be ruled by fear and anger and persists in her hope for a peaceful future.

'But will hope be enough?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Excerpts from The Other Shore Hoa Pham , 2015 extract novel (The Other Shore)
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , April no. 17 2015;
1 Hoa Pham Hoa Pham , 2014 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Seizure [Online] , May 2014;
1 1 y separately published work icon The Other Shore Hoa Pham , Sydney : Seizure , 2014 7670510 2014 single work novella fantasy

'This book tells the story of Kim, a 16 year old psychic hired by the Vietnamese government to reunite the remains of the dead with their descendants. This is a delicate meditation on the nature of ghosts, belief and how the future is shaped by the past.' (Publisher's summary)

1 [Essay] : Look Who’s Morphing Hoa Pham , 2013 single work essay
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;

'Look Who’s Morphing is a series of humorous short fiction stories, playing with issues of identity and pop culture. The humour in the book references pop culture from the 80s onwards, from Sweet Valley High books to David Hasselhof and Godzilla. The stories also question notions of identity, touching on ethnicity, family and gender and their interaction with popular culture. The series of short stories incorporates the fantastic with the real, where, with sardonic humour, characters turn into machines and celebrities, and the narrator is turned into Godzilla and a giant cock rock god. The book provides no easy answers but it leads the reader to question the societal assumptions about race, gender and identity.' (Introduction)

1 Wave Hoa Pham , 2011 single work short story
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , October no. 10 2011; TEXT Special Issue Website Series , 17 April no. 17 2013;
1 Finding a Place in the World - Vietnamese-Australian Diasporic Writing Hoa Pham , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 71 no. 1 2011;
'This essay touches briefly on the works of Nam Le, Chi Vu and Dominic Hong Duc Golding, demonstrating how 'they provide a counter narrative to the dominant discourse of the Vietnam/America War in Australia, and, further, how they might pave a central place for Australian diasporic writing in general.' (Source: Introduction, p. 1)
1 y separately published work icon Hoa Pham Hoa Pham , Hoa Pham , 2011 Z1778045 2011 website Contains biographical and bibliographical information, and also complete short stories.
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