For this chapter of the Okie Bookcast, we talk with Oklahoma author Amy M. Le, author of the Snow Trilogy (Snow in Vietnam, Snow in Seattle, and Snow's Kitchen) and The Copper Phoenix. Amy immigrated with her mother and cousin to the United States from Vietnam in the aftermath of the war and is proud of her strong connections to both her Vietnamese roots and the Vietnamese community in Oklahoma City and beyond. In addition to her writing, Amy is the founder of Quill Hawk Publishing - a company dedicated to assisting indie authors publish their work. She co-founded The Heart Community Collection, an online cooperative bookstore for the CHD community. She also partners with Together For Good Refugee Film School, Healing Hearts Vietnam, the Vietnamese Heritage Museum, the Spero Project, and the Seahawks Booster Club. Amy is a member of several organizations including the Asian Author Alliance, the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Oklahoma City Writers, Inc., Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., Telltale Authors, the Yukon Writers’ Society, and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).
In our conversation we discuss her experience as a refugee and the importance of her dual identity as Vietnamese-American and how these experiences informed the Snow Trilogy. Additionally, we cover her writing process, Quill Hawk Publishing, cooking, the Seattle Seahawks, and Oompa Loompas - what more could you ask for?
You can connect with Amy and find out more about her story and her work at Amy-M-Le.com or on social media at @amy_m_le (Instagram and Twitter) or @authoramymle (Facebook).
Our review this week comes from Mark Edward Jones, reviewing Dissolution by C. J. Sansom. Mark's debut novel, Peculiar Activities, launches October 6. He has won awards for mystery writing and has a flash fiction piece entitled Alone in Warsaw published in the UK publication, Painted Words. Mark has also worked as an editor and consultant on multiple projects. You can find out more about Mark and his work at mejbooksllc.com.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @okiebookcast.
Mentioned in this Chapter:
Snow in Vietnam - Amy M. Le
Snow in Seattle - Amy M. Le
Snow's Kitchen - Amy M. Le
The Copper Pheonix - Amy M. Le
The Mountain Sings - Mai Phan Que Nguyen
House of Sticks - Ly Tran
Peculiar Activities - Mark Edward Jones
Dissolution - C. J. Sansom
Music by JuliusH