The more tragic the story though, the more I try to balance it with humor. THL: I know… so much war, horrors, sadness, injustice. I was compelled to write this novel since the turbulent events of our history should not be forgotten. NPQM: My friend’s grandmother once said, “The challenges faced by Vietnamese people throughout history are as tall as the tallest mountains”, and her words became those of Grandma Diệu Lan, one of the two narrators in The Mountains Sing. Likewise, your novel, The Mountains Sing, is filled with tragedies going back three generations. I thought of her intense stare while writing about Hằng, who also escaped on a tiny fishing boat and after horrific circumstances made it to Texas, only to face an entirely new set of obstacles. Her face was inside a tiny black-and-white portrait on a memorial wall honoring those who perished at sea. Thanhhà Lai (THL): Yes… I don’t know her name. Your author’s note says that Hằng is inspired by a real-life character… Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (NPQM): I had to read Butterfly Yellow twice because I found it so real and moving.

Now, these two writers get together and discuss their latest works: Thanhhà Lại’s BUTTERFLY YELLOW (HarperCollins, September 2019) and Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s THE MOUNTAINS SING (Algonquin Books, March 2020).Ī conversation between Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and Thanhhà Lại: Nine years ago, when Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai won the Poetry of the Year 2010 from the Hà Nội Writers Association in Vietnam, Thanhhà Lại was about to receive the 2011 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in the United States.

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhhà Lại