Reporter has Q and A with Common Read author
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 06/24/2009
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Associate English professor Bich Minh Nguyen wrote “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner,” a memoir chosen for the University’s first common reading experience. The book is distributed to all new students to read before the start of fall semester in hopes of enriching first-year experiences at Purdue. Nguyen’s book received the PEN/Jerard Award in 2005 for the Nguyen’s manuscript-in-process. “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner” was also noted as the Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2007, a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book and a Book Sense pick.
Q: Could you tell us about your book, “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner?”
A: “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner” is about my family’s experience as refugees from Vietnam. I was 8 months old when we arrived in the U.S. and settled in a small town in Michigan, and I grew up feeling conflicted about being both Vietnamese and American. The book is about dual identity, immigration, outsiderness, childhood, growing up in the 1980s and food as a metaphor for identity.
Q: Why did you write the book? What was your inspiration?
A: I had always been interested in the subjects of food, immigration, identity and childhood. The story of my family’s leaving Vietnam and settling in the United States turned out to be a story that had to be told in the genre of truth: Nonfiction. I couldn’t write it any other way; it seemed too true for fiction.
Q: When your book was chosen, word is the committee didn’t even know the writer was a Purdue professor. What’s that like?
A: I had no idea that my book was even being considered. It was a huge surprise and an amazing honor.
Q: What are you hoping students will take away from the story?
A: My family’s story is just one of many immigration stories that make up much of the United States. I think everyone has a compelling family story and a compelling “how-I-grew-up” story. Our childhoods, our family histories, our roles as Americans and what our food choices say about us – these are some of the topics that I hope people enjoy discussing.
Q: Why are focuses on diversity important on Purdue’s campus?
A: I believe that diversity involves encouraging wide points of view and a broad range of discussion topics. What we take away from these experiences helps us in terms of critical thinking as well as in finding common ground.