a.NGUYEN

Academic essayist. | Research: Literary Studies of Science/STS , Food Literature, Expertise, Theoretical Shade | Host of Critical Literary Consumption podcast

[a.NGUYEN @anannadroid]

New episode with my neighbor SAEED JONES, who talks about poetics, prose, place, and persona in this fun chat (lots of laughs!). We also bonded over growing up in the south, how he depicts it as a character, and correcting "the Southern canon".

To listen: https://t.co/FOAJln3Ofo

[Cha: An Asian Literary Journal @asiancha]

𝐍𝐄𝐖@asiancha𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 | Anna Nguyen reviews Junko Takase’s 𝑀𝑎𝑦 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑠 (2025), trans. Morgan Giles: "... offers an incisive critique of the workplace lunch and the presumed pleasures of eating."

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃: https://t.co/XzGNJvbRfA

[Cha: An Asian Literary Journal @asiancha]

𝐍𝐄𝐖@asiancha𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Anna Nguyen on 𝑆𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐹𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑: "When we first encounter Dr Wong, he is in his natural habitat, a laboratory in HK. Is science understood and taught differently in Hong Kong than in Germany & the wider Western world?"

https://t.co/VlJ0mkf5EB

[wendy trevino @prolpo]

keep thinking about this poem i wrote 10 years ago (& i think it might be the only thing i read at the event on friday) & how much has changed (especially in the orientation of any kind of not right wing “movement,” which yeah i think is in a worse position in terms of liberatory potential now). also thinking abt writing a Summer 2026 poem, especially since i’m abt to be at a poetry reading in the middle of an oakland street again (for the first time since 2016):

[兔兒神 @chenchenwrites]

new love poem for pride month!

big thanks to Queer Poem-A-Day for publishing “Ode to the Profoundly Gay Night We Just Had.” this one’s about a particularly memorable (and hot) anniversary night.

you can read it & listen to me read it here:
https://t.co/GkB7osMHQ3

[a.NGUYEN @anannadroid]

My least favorite received idea about writing is that one must find one's voice, as if it's there inside you, ready to be turned on like a player piano. Like character, its very existence depends on interaction with the world.

Sarah Manguso, 300 Arguments

[a.NGUYEN @anannadroid]

I love the piece, ‘808s and Heartbreak’ by Katherine McKittrick and Alexander G. Weheliye.

[a.NGUYEN @anannadroid]

Yiyun Li, on teaching writing (paraphrasing): I don’t think I can really teach students how to write. I am teaching them how to read.

Yes.

[Cha: An Asian Literary Journal @asiancha]

Anna Nguyen reflects on Giorgio Biancorosso’s 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑥𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑊𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑎𝑟-𝑤𝑎𝑖 through memories of dubbed television dramas, pop songs, and the afterlives of borrowed music. She ultimately argues that Wong’s politics remain insufficiently examined.

https://t.co/RBu04V97CY

[Sunny Singh @ProfSunnySingh]

While imperial/white feminists stay silent there is incisive, empire defying work being done by anticolonial feminists. Read, learn, think, and cite!

PS citation is political and yes, a form of resistance. Anticolonial citation is essential to liberation!

[Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem]

“How will you live now?”

— Bhanu Kapil 

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This poem appeared in The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers by Bhanu Kapil, published by Kelsey Street Press, 2001. Shared here with deep gratitude.

[a.NGUYEN @anannadroid]

I have been thinking of ways to write about sampling, particularly the politics of the practice. And here I’ve tried, connecting Wong Kar-wai, citations, sampling, and Prince (‘sampling the sample that was already sampled’).

[Cha: An Asian Literary Journal @asiancha]

𝐍𝐄𝐖@asiancha—Anna Nguyen reflects on Biancorosso’s 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑥𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑊𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑎𝑟-𝑤𝑎𝑖 through memories of dubbed dramas,translated pop songs & the layered afterlives of borrowed music. She argues that Wong’s politics remain insufficiently examined.
https://t.co/RBu04V97CY

[Cha: An Asian Literary Journal @asiancha]

𝐍𝐄𝐖@asiancha—Anna Nguyen reflects on Biancorosso’s 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑥𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑊𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑎𝑟-𝑤𝑎𝑖 through memories of dubbed dramas,translated pop songs & the layered afterlives of borrowed music. She argues that Wong’s politics remain insufficiently examined.
https://t.co/RBu04V97CY

[Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem]

“Murderers love to say they protect and serve.”

— Natalie Wee (@natweewriter)

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This poem appeared in Protean Magazine, 2024. Shared here with deep gratitude.

[a.NGUYEN @anannadroid]

On a run and heard an odd human-made cat sound. Turned around with an angry face and saw my elderly neighbor. She said ‘I meowed because I know you like cats and I was trying to get your attention.’

LOL.

[兔兒神 @chenchenwrites]

sometimes (often?) someone's feedback in workshop is more about wanting a poem to be easier to read (for them) than about trying to help the poem open into greater (stranger) possibilities

[a.NGUYEN @anannadroid]

New episode with the wonderful @doctora_nature , who talks about writing both FRESH BANANA LEAVES & GROWING PAPAYA TREES, the binary of Western/Indigenous scientist, defining an Indigenous scientist, positionality statements, + more!

To listen: https://t.co/RoVpOYidDq

[Mohammed El-Kurd @m7mdkurd]

"a whole civilization will die" and "less radicalized minds" in the same paragraph is the most American thing ever

[Dr. CBS @drcbs_]

It's odd when people hate academics but act exactly like them in terms of the performance of mastery, elitism, industry or organization specific jargon, disdain for poor and working-class people, rabid individualism, careerism, alienation from community, and commitment to class reproduction.

[兔兒神 @chenchenwrites]

mary ruefle was right when she said that people would rather read an essay about poetry than read a poem. it reminds me of when people in a museum read the explanatory caption before having their own experience of the art. you fear not "getting it" when you should fear not living