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Continue reading →: What Happened and What to Do: A Post-Election Conversation from Writers for Democratic Action
On Saturday, November 16, I attended a post-election conversation with members of Writers for Democratic Action (WDA) called “What Happened and What to Do.” It was held virtually via Crowdcast, hosted by Books & Books bookstore, and led by poet, journalist, and WDA steering committee member Jo-Ann Mort along with…
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Continue reading →: United States of Dystopia
“Despair is not an option. It helps no one.” – Margaret Atwood Following the 2024 election of Donald Trump, Margaret Atwood posted on X: “Despair is not an option. It helps no one.” Atwood is the author of The Handmaid’s Tale and its sequel The Testaments, two dystopian novels that…
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Continue reading →: Updates: January 2025
It just so happens that this month begins my thesis coursework for the MFA program at SNHU, and so I am furiously writing. I’m also taking some time to update my website. I hope you’ll enjoy. If the comment features aren’t working—they should be, but I’m not certain—please send me…
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Continue reading →: July 2023 Interview, MFA-Style
A huge thank you to novelist Alicia Masztal for the thoughtful questions and engaging chat! Alicia interviewed me for our MFA class called Finding & Reaching an Audience. As you can see, we are having a great time! Alicia Masztal: Hello to author Kari Nguyen. Thank you for allowing me…
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Continue reading →: 2022 Books Read 📚
Moratorium by Gary Percesepe This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams Persist by Elizabeth Warren The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine N. Aron You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays…
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Continue reading →: Has It Been Another Year? My 2021 Reading List.
Without any further ado, here was 2021: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition by Ursula K. Le Guin Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (reread) The Incendiaries by R. O. Kwon From the Umberplatzen by Susan Tepper (reread) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (reread) The Third Hotel…
Curious stories.
I didn’t set out with the intention of writing dystopian stories. For a long time, I tried writing everything else. But I’ve found that my truest characters, and the worlds that become the most alive for me, are the ones which are the least free. That the truth is most impactful and the most moving when it is threatened. That sometimes it takes turning oneself inside out to see the beauty of that dark heart they want to suppress.
Kari Nguyen 