Mai Der Vang: "I have to be twice as good to be given access, to be heard." A chat with award-winning writer, Mai Der Vang, about being the child of Hmong immigrants; the challenges of being a female, P.O.C. artist; and why we must trust our own creative impulses. - a podcast by Tricia Park

In this conversation that took place shortly before the pandemic and shelter-in-place order, award-winning writer Mai Der Vang and I discuss why failure is always a way to build resilience; the burden of excellence that many immigrants experience plus the challenges of being a female, P.O.C. writer and academic in the American literary landscape; and the devastation of the Secret War that wreaked havoc on the Hmong people and how this trauma influences her writing, as the child of Hmong immigrants.

Further episodes of Is it Recess Yet? Confessions of a Former Child Prodigy

Further podcasts by Tricia Park

Website of Tricia Park