Simplicity, wit, and good typography.
Precious things lost are transmutable. They refuse oblivion. They simply wait to be rendered into testimonies, into stories and songs.
In non-fiction you have to stay true to historical events, be they personal or national.
It's unfortunate that the country of immigrants has turned its back on immigrants. The atmosphere after 911 is toxic.
As a Vietnamese refugee who became an American writer, I can tell you that you matter, that your sadness matters, the story of how you survived and triumphed matters. For every story that belongs to you, in time, belongs to America.
Art is the lesser sister to medicine. It aims to heal.
America's story is largely an immigrant story. That hasn't changed since the Pilgrims ate their first turkey some four hundred years ago, and they were the original boat people.
Remember, what you say comes back to you.
It's just a matter of writing the kind of book I enjoy reading. Something better be happening at the beginning, and then on every page after, or I get irritated.
I suppose I could try to be some avant-garde artist if I wanted to, but that doesn't interest me as much.
I didn't really like my Sydney accent - nobody likes the sound of their own voice - and when I was a little younger tried to change my accent gradually. But I've only ever really lived in Sydney and Los Angeles, so I haven't been influenced by the accents of some far-off land.