ÁCCENTED is a talk show and podcast that fosters engaging and culturally insightful conversations within the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian diaspora. Since its launch in 2020, DVAN has uplifted hundreds of writers, poets, visual artists, actors, filmmakers, and other community voices through ÁCCENTED.
This live event, featuring acclaimed Vietnamese American writers Aimee Phan and Christina Vo, is an intimate conversation on intergenerational relationships, cultural inheritance, and the ways storytelling allows us to reclaim and reimagine family history. Through their dialogue, the program sheds light on the complex bonds between daughters and fathers, and the enduring strength of women across generations. By engaging openly with their lived experiences, the participants aim to illuminate how sharing stories can shape a future defined by resilience and hope within the diaspora community.
Panelists include:
Viet Thanh Nguyen is a writer, co-founder of DVAN, and professor at the University of Southern California. His debut novel, The Sympathizer, won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and numerous other awards. His other books include: Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (2016), The Refugees (2017), The Committed (2021), A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial (2023), and To Save and to Destroy (2025).
Philip Nguyen is the Executive Director of the Vietnamese American Roundtable (VAR). He holds an M.A. in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University, where he currently teaches Vietnamese American literature and history. Philip has worked with various community organizations to advocate for and amplify Vietnamese American voices, including DVAN and PIVOT.
Aimee Phan was born and raised in Orange County, California, and lives in Berkeley. She is the author of two books for adults, We Should Never Meet: Stories and the novel The Reeducation of Cherry Truong. Her most recent book is The Lost Queen, the first book in a young adult fantasy duology. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Time, USA Today and CNN.com, among other publications. She teaches at the California College of the Arts.
Christina Vo is a Santa Fe-based author whose work delves into themes such as loss, intergenerational trauma, healing, identity, and the notions of home and reconciliation. Her second book, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam, is an intergenerational memoir co-written with her father. Christina is also the author of The Veil Between Two Worlds: A Memoir of Silence, Loss, and Finding Home.