A sketch of a small pile of books with the words “Meet the Author” superimposed
Let's hear from you writers, tell us a little bit about yourself, what projects you've on the go, what you've written, any events in the near future, or just drop your bio and links and follow and support each other
#WritersLiftWednesday #Writers #Authors #WritersLift #BookSky 💙📚
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The cover of a book written by Connla Stokes called Falling for Saigon — a collection of essays about moving to, and falling for, Ho Chi Minh City.
Nice one. Here’s my intro: I’m an Irish writer based in Vietnam. I have a collection of essays called ‘Falling for Saigon’ about moving to (and falling for) Ho Chi Minh City.
And I write regular long reads that dig into the history of Saigon (HCMC) and the food culture of Hanoi:
connla.substack.com
So if anyone is in Iceland and pining for pho... Mama';s Kitchen has your back.
Which reminds me of Andrew Lam's short story about a set of worldly overseas Vietnamese meeting up and bragging about the most random places where they have eaten pho — Rio, Nepal, a castle in Belgium, Antartica...
Always cool to see an article/ essay 'jump the fence' and get read by people waaaaay outside of one's circle:
My 'Purist's Guide to Pho in Hanoi' just got linked on (of all things) Hacker News (95% of which is tech related threads).
A few amusing/ random comments in the screen shots attached.
[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒] Jennifer Eagleton believes that Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a noted China historian & scholar, is well qualified to provide insight about China in his new book, 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎 (𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐴𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝑠𝑘).
chajournal.com/2026/04/20/e...
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Went for a short walk in Phường Phạm Ngũ Lão - part 1 of 4
Latest literary venture by Minh Bui Jones (founding editor before this of @thediplomat.com & @mekongreview.com as well as publisher of Bui Jones Books), a Granta-style magazine focused on Southeast Asia, should be special like everything he does buijones.com/books/yellow/
Friends of ours are in Portland and just texted this photo.
Hilariously the George Grosz image used for Isherwood’s Penguin cover has been deemed “adult content”
"I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all this will have to be developed, carefully printed, fixed."
—Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin (1939)
Cor.... What a cover that is.... .
Claude Palazzoli lived in Hanoi for a few years as a Cultural and Scientific and Technical Cooperation Advisor at the French Embassy. Not sure of exact dates but this book was published in 1979.
#hanoi #vietnam #booksky
It's bun cha o'clock somewhere in the world — get your fix today. Or as soon as possible.
And if you can't — torture yourself with this selective history of Hanoi's most addictive dish.
connla.substack.com/p/hooked-on-...
#hanoi #Vietnam #vietnamesecuisine
Today’s walk was a short one — it was 37 degrees Celsius according to the internet but felt like a lot more.
Pictures were taken in Tan Dinh Ward of Ho Chi Minh City.
#streetphotogtaphy #saigon
“I resent the fact that for so many years of my life, I did not know bún chả existed – how many bowls of bún chả could I have eaten? How many bowls have I already missed?”
— Nguyen Qui Duc
My latest essay is about Hanoi's most addictive dish.
👇🏼👇🏾👇🏽👇
“I resent the fact that for so many years of my life, I did not know bún chả existed – how many bowls of bún chả could I have eaten? How many bowls have I already missed?”
— Nguyen Qui Duc
My latest essay is about Hanoi's most addictive dish.
👇🏼👇🏾👇🏽👇
Freshly posted: don't read on an empty stomach.
Hooked on bún chả: an age old Hanoi tale of appetite and longing
connla.substack.com/p/hooked-on-...
#hanoi #vietnam #foodguides #foodhistory
The cover of Stores from the Edge of the Sea
"Instead of sailing the wide rivers where history flows, I went back to the tributaries, the streams and murmuring brooks, and I dwelled there."
Andrew Lam talks about his new book with Long T. Bui: lareviewofbooks.org/article/andrew-lam-stori...
Watched this last night — glorious stuff.
Can't remember who mentioned it on here but it's a film that somehow eluded me up until last weekend. Also a very welcome distraction from the news of the world right now. Highly recommended if you have never seen it.
#filmsky #escapism
Latest @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with me, on my Little Yellow Book, which came out last week in the UK and Asia newbooksnetwork.com/everything-y...
"If a subject lights someone up – much like phở does for Connla Stokes – then you can bet it’ll offer someone else a moment of insight or reflection – or joy, or connection, or another of the countless things that humans get from stories."
Ta to VoiceMaps for the plug:
mailchi.mp/voicemap/ukr...
Very nice of the team at VoiceMap to give my essay on pho a wee write up in their monthly newsletter, Senses of Direction — it’s here if anyone would like to check it out:
mailchi.mp/voicemap/ukr...
#phovietnam #voicemaps #vietnam
Repost:
The US is once again bombing a far distant mountainous land, which (sadly) reminds me of this story I wrote about a traumatised vet returning to Vietnam.
connla.substack.com/p/stuck-in-k...
#shortstory #vietnam
Never saw this picture before — that's Đồng Khởi (at the time, still Tự Do street, and once upon a colonial time, rue Catinat).
In the background is the sign for the old Eden Cinema.
Credit: AP Photo/Yves Billy
“To while away one’s hours in a café is considered an honourable profession in Vietnam.”
— Walter Mason, Destination Saigon
Pictured is an atmospheric Saigon cafe from back in the day (not sure what year but perhaps early 70s).
#cafesociety #saigon
"One of the sadder casualties of the Vietnam war was the comedian Bob Hope, who suffered there an injury to his pride, his professional reputation and perhaps even his faith in America." ~ Richard West, Victory for Vietnam (1974)
Decades later, Lucky Peach (now defunct) made a special 'Pho Issue.'
It came out in the summer of 2016 and features some great articles/ essays, too. My pal Calvin Godfrey's article was about the diversity of pho in Ho Chi Minh City with recommendations for six very different pho joints in HCMC.