Nguyen Phan Quy Mai

When you are a bit distant from...

from your home, you have such a longing that has to be expressed.

So, my mighty bad novel is about the last 60 years of Vietnamese history through the lives of four generations of a Vietnamese family.

So both of my grandmothers had died before my birth.

So I wanted to talk to them.

So that's why I created a grandma character in my book.

And because living in Jakarta, I have such longing for home.

So writing for me each day is to return home almost.

And I write not only in English, but in Vietnamese.

And I'm really lucky because editors in Vietnam always

ask for articles or manuscript, you know.

So I love to write in both my language and in English.

In English because there are stories which can't be told and published in Vietnamese.

In Vietnamese because I need to keep in touch with my language.