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Vietnam

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3:00 PM-5:00 PM

Diasporic Identities and Intergenerational Trauma

Discussion|Stories of Vietnamese - European diasporic literature

HAN Căn tính di dân và Sang chấn Thế hệ 1500 © Goethe-Institut Hanoi

HAN Căn tính di dân và Sang chấn Thế hệ 7360 © Goethe-Institut Hanoi

"The Vietnamese diaspora experience unfolds through intergenerational dialogues—where cultural preservation intertwines with transformation, and where traditional values sometimes collide with contemporary ideologies and norms. These clashes not only create tensions but also become raw material for literary creation. Overseas Vietnamese writers breathe life into these stories through their works, portraying both the conflicts and connections that emerge as each generation shapes its identity in distinct ways. Through their writing, private family narratives and cultural negotiations transform into universal stories that resonate across cultures and generations.

The literary discussion "Diasporic Identities and Intergenerational Trauma" will explores how diaspora Vietnamese writers delve into these experiences through their works. Could it be that literature here serves not only as an archive of memory or a means of healing past wounds, but also as fertile ground for long-silenced dialogues—those stories previously stifled by blockage or trauma—to finally begin and flourish?

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An event of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Germany

HAN #50vietduc EN ohneText 1500

Moderator and speakers

  • Phùng Hồng Minh began working in the publishing industry in early 2008. After more than 17 years, she has translated several notable works, including A Romantic Egoist by Frédéric Beigbeder, So You Don’t Get Lost in the Neighborhood by Patrick Modiano, Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal, and Children’s Games in Tonkin by Ngô Quý Sơn. She is currently a freelance editor and translator.

  • Vanessa Vu is a journalist and author at ZEIT. In 2024, she published her debut book, «Komm dahin, wo es still ist» (Rowohlt), an epistolary exchange with her Syrian husband Ahmad Katlesh on refuge, migration, and identity. Born in Germany in 1991 to Vietnamese parents, Vu spent her childhood in an asylum shelter in Pfarrkirchen—an experience that deeply influences her work.

    Since 2017, she has been an editor at ZEIT ONLINE, focusing on migration, human rights, and social justice through reports and essays. She hosts the monthly series «Klassenzimmer» at Berlin’s Schaubühne theatre, addressing poverty and classism. From 2018–2023, she co-hosted the Vietnamese-German podcast «Rice and Shine».
    Her accolades include the Theodor-Wolff-Preis, Helmut-Schmidt-Preis, and Lessing-Preis für Kritik.

  • Author Nuage Rose (Hồng Vân) is an IT Engineer, French Trade Attaché to Vietnam, Secretary-General for ASEAN Affairs at the French Embassy in Singapore… Born in Hanoi just as the war against American forces began, she has lived and worked in Paris for forty years.
    Published works:

    • Trois Nuage au pays des nénuphars (Autobiographical novel, Société des Écrivains, 2013)
    • Ba áng Mây trôi dạt xứ bèo (Autobiographical novel, Tre Publishing, 2017)
    • 120 ngày Mây thì thầm với gió (Autobiographical novel, Tre Publishing, 2021)

  • Nghiêm Quỳnh Trang is currently based in both Prague and Hanoi. After earning a degree in political science from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, she received a French government scholarship to attend a summer documentary program at La Fémis, which marked the beginning of her filmmaking career. In 2011, she earned her Master’s degree in Directing from EICAR in Paris. She co-wrote and produced the feature film Cu Li Never Cries, which won several awards at international film festivals in 2024. Her most recent short film as director has been selected for the 2025 Czech Short Films Collection by the Czech Film Fund and will be screened at the ShorTS International Short Film Festival in Trieste, Italy, in July 2025.

  • Born in 1978, with a French mother and a Vietnamese father. After studying design in Marseille, he attended the Angoulême School of Fine Arts and the Hanoi University of Fine Arts. His two books on Asian immigration issues – Memories of Overseas Vietnamese, have been widely praised and won many awards.

Related links

European Literature Days 2025: Roots & Routes - European Diasporic Literary Voices