Nam Le (writer)
Encyclopedia
Nam Le is a Vietnamese
-born Australian writer, who won the Dylan Thomas Prize
for his book The Boat, a collection of short stories. His stories have been published in many places including Best Australian Stories 2007, Best New American Voices, Zoetrope: All-Story, A Public Space and One Story.
. He went to Melbourne Grammar School
and the University of Melbourne
, from where he graduated with a BA
(Hons) and LLB
(Hons). His Arts thesis supervisor was the Australian poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe
. He worked as a corporate lawyer and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2003/2004.
However, he decided to turn to writing, and in 2004 attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop
in the United States of America where he completed a Masters in Creative Writing. He became fiction editor at the Harvard Review
. His first short story was published in Zoetrope in 2006. Nam Le also held fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center
in Provincetown in 2006, and at the Phillips Exeter Academy
, in 2007.
In an interview on Australian ABC
radio, he said he turned from law to writing due to his love of reading: "I loved reading, and if you asked me why I decided to become a writer, that's the answer right there, because I was a reader and I was just so enthralled and thrilled by the stuff that I'd read that I just thought; what could be better? How could you possibly better spend your time than trying to recreate that feeling for other people". In the same interview he said that his first writing was poetry.
He returned to Australia in 2008, but is moving to Great Britain to take up a writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia
.
When asked about his source of inspiration, Nam Le said in 2008 that "I’d say I’m most inspired by my parents for the choices and sacrifices they’ve made. It still boggles me".
Each story provides "a snapshot of a pivotal point in the characters' lives".
Nam Le has said of his Vietnamese heritage and writing that:
Australian short story writer, Cate Kennedy
, interviewing Nam Le said that The Boat has put the short story back in "the literary centre stage".
Vietnamese Australian
A Vietnamese Australian is an Australian either born in Vietnam or is an Australian descendant of the former. Communities of Overseas Vietnamese are referred to as Việt Kiều or người Việt hải ngoại.-History in Australia:...
-born Australian writer, who won the Dylan Thomas Prize
Dylan Thomas Prize
The Dylan Thomas Prize is the world’s top cash prize for young writers. The annual prize, named in honor of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a cash award of £30,000 . It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of thirty. The prize...
for his book The Boat, a collection of short stories. His stories have been published in many places including Best Australian Stories 2007, Best New American Voices, Zoetrope: All-Story, A Public Space and One Story.
Life and early career
Nam Le came to Australia from Vietnam with his parents, when he was less than a year old, as a boat refugeeBoat people
Boat people is a term that usually refers to refugees, illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who emigrate in numbers in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made...
. He went to Melbourne Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, located in South Yarra and Caulfield, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
and the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, from where he graduated with a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
(Hons) and LLB
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
(Hons). His Arts thesis supervisor was the Australian poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe
Chris Wallace-Crabbe
Chris Wallace-Crabbe AO is an Australian poet and Emeritus Professor in The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne.-Biography:...
. He worked as a corporate lawyer and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2003/2004.
However, he decided to turn to writing, and in 2004 attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Program in Creative Writing, more commonly known as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, is a highly regarded graduate-level creative writing program in the United States...
in the United States of America where he completed a Masters in Creative Writing. He became fiction editor at the Harvard Review
Harvard Review
The Harvard Review is a literary magazine published by the Harvard University library system.Its origins can be dated to 1986, when Stratis Haviaras, the curator of the libraries' poetry room founded a magazine called Erato to publicize poetry room authors.The first issue included a poem by Seamus...
. His first short story was published in Zoetrope in 2006. Nam Le also held fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center
Fine Arts Work Center
The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise devoted to encouraging the growth and development of emerging visual artists and writers through residency programs, to the propagation of aesthetic values and experience, and to the restoration of the year-round vitality of the historic art...
in Provincetown in 2006, and at the Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
, in 2007.
In an interview on Australian ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
radio, he said he turned from law to writing due to his love of reading: "I loved reading, and if you asked me why I decided to become a writer, that's the answer right there, because I was a reader and I was just so enthralled and thrilled by the stuff that I'd read that I just thought; what could be better? How could you possibly better spend your time than trying to recreate that feeling for other people". In the same interview he said that his first writing was poetry.
He returned to Australia in 2008, but is moving to Great Britain to take up a writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
.
When asked about his source of inspiration, Nam Le said in 2008 that "I’d say I’m most inspired by my parents for the choices and sacrifices they’ve made. It still boggles me".
Style
Regarding his style, Nam Le said in an interview that "one of the demarcations is writers that deal primarily with language, the more lyrical minded writers, and writers that are more structurally oriented. I always used to...I started out writing poetry and reading poetry, and so I always knew that that was the side that I was most predisposed to, and so I actually had to be quite careful in these stories to not overdo that impulse, to not throw too many images or indulge too many lyrical flights of fancy."The Boat
The book, first published in 2008, comprises seven short stories which take the reader to such places as Colombia, New York City, Iowa, Tehran, Hiroshima, and small-town Australia. In the opening story, Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice, he writes about a Vietnamese-born character called Nam Le who is attending a writing workshop in Iowa. In a conversation with Michael Williams he said about the practice of using a narrator close to "self" in a story:A lot of people presume if I'm writing a narrator who has clear parallels to me, that's just sheer inertia; that there's a natural adaptation from so-called life to so-called text. But any careful reader or writer would understand how much artifice and contrivance go into making this self-standing and self-contained. Actually it's tougher: if I stick in something that has more resonance for me than is communicated on the page, then that's a failure of my charge as a writer . . . I'm not creating a good enough space for the reader to come in and fully partake in that scene or that language or that line."
Each story provides "a snapshot of a pivotal point in the characters' lives".
Nam Le has said of his Vietnamese heritage and writing that:
My relationship with Vietnam is complex. For a long time I vowed I wouldn’t fall into writing ethnic stories, immigrant stories, etc. Then I realized that not only was I working against these expectations (market, self, literary, cultural), I was working against my kneejerk resistance to such expectations. How I see it now is no matter what or where I write about, I feel a responsibility to the subject matter. Not so much to get it right as to do it justice. Having personal history with a subject only complicates this — but not always, nor necessarily, in bad ways. I don’t completely understand my relationship to Vietnam as a writer. This book is a testament to the fact that I’m becoming more and more okay with that.
Australian short story writer, Cate Kennedy
Cate Kennedy
Cate Kennedy is an author born in Louth, Lincolnshire, England who moved to Australia in her childhood. She graduated from University of Canberra and has also taught at several colleges, including The University of Melbourne...
, interviewing Nam Le said that The Boat has put the short story back in "the literary centre stage".
Awards and nominations
- 2010: PEN/Malamud AwardPEN/Malamud AwardThe PEN/Malamud Award and Memorial Reading honors "excellence in the art of the short story", and is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The selection committee is composed of PEN/Faulkner directors and representatives of Bernard Malamud's literary executors.The award was first given...
- 2009: Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction: Winner of the $100,000 (AUS) prize for "The Boat"
- 2009: Queensland Premier's Literary AwardsQueensland Premier's Literary AwardsThe Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were inaugurated in 1999 and have grown to become a leading literary awards program within Australia, with $225,000 in prizemoney over 14 categories. One of Australia's richest prizes, top categories offer up to $25,000 for 1st prize.-Fiction Book...
Australian Short Story Collection - Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award - 2009: Vance Palmer Prize for FictionVance Palmer Prize for FictionThe Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction is a component of the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award and is valued at A$30,000. Most Australian state premiers present annual Australian literary awards to promote Australian writing in all its forms. The award is named after Vance Palmer...
: Shortlisted for The Boat - 2009: New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsThe New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...
Book of the Year and UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing for The Boat - 2008: Dylan Thomas PrizeDylan Thomas PrizeThe Dylan Thomas Prize is the world’s top cash prize for young writers. The annual prize, named in honor of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a cash award of £30,000 . It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of thirty. The prize...
for The Boat - 2008: National Book FoundationNational Book FoundationThe National Book Foundation, founded in 1989, is an American nonprofit literary organization established "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." It achieves this through sponsoring the National Book Award, as well as the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American...
's "5 Under 35" Fiction Selections - 2008: Frank O'ConnorFrank O'ConnorFrank O’Connor was an Irish author of over 150 works, best known for his short stories and memoirs.-Early life:...
International Short Story Award: Longlisted - 2007: Pushcart PrizePushcart PrizeThe Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....
- 2007: Michener-Copernicus FellowshipMichener-Copernicus FellowshipThe Michener-Copernicus Fellowship is a literary award. Past recipients include:* Anthony Swofford* Peter Craig* Emily Barton* Brett Ellen Brock* Justin Kramon* Malena Watrous* Andrew J. Porter* Nam Le* Kevin Gonzalez* Drew Keenan...