APIDA Author Spotlight: Truong Tran, book of the other
Part II of APASA’s Community Road Map, headed by our External Community Chair, Minah Yang
“dear white,
that you are neither singular nor universal. friend nor enemy. you will see yourself in what ive written. as only you can see yourself. i have written this book. if you are reading this. know. i am writing you a letter. i owe you this much.”
-from book of the other
Hi there! Welcome back to APASA’s Community Roadmap, an initiative where we highlight an APIDA organization in the greater Los Angeles area. This month we partnered with Kaya Press to spotlight author Truong Tran and his newest book, book of the other.
What is Kaya Press?
Kaya Press is a book publishing company housed under the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC Dornsife that publishes works from the Asian Pacific diaspora. The name “Kaya” is derived from the confederation of Korean city-states that existed centuries before that was known as a hub for learning, music, and the arts.
From poetry to science fiction to film noir and more, the works published by Kaya Press know no bounds in terms of genre or subject matter. Kaya strives to go against the status quo and provide a platform for stories and storytellers that have been pushed to the shadows by society.
Besides acting as a book publisher, Kaya also hosts events throughout the year showcasing their authors and sparking conversations surrounding issues that affect the APIDA community. You can find more information about Kaya Press by visiting their website at
Truong Tran Bio (provided by Kaya Press)
Truong Tran is an author, poet, artist, and educator born in 1969 in Saigon, Vietnam. He is the author of six previous collections of poetry, The Book of Perceptions, Placing the Accents, Dust and Conscience, Within the Margins, Four Letter Words and 100 Words (co-authored with Damon Potter). He also authored the children's book Going Home Coming Home, and an artist monograph, I Meant to Say Please Pass the Sugar. He is the recipient of the Poetry Center Prize, the Fund for Poetry Grant, the California Arts Council Grant and numerous San Francisco Arts Commission Grants. Tran lives in San Francisco where he teaches art and poetry.
book of the other: small in comparison
Truong Tran’s book of the other discusses the insidious implications of anti-Asian racism, specifically within the academia sphere, and the perpetual feeling of other-ness of APIDA individuals who occupy these spaces. Through his unconventional use of punctuation and form– a choice he reckons as a “reclamation of the English language”, Truong makes a compelling statement on the systems that continue to uphold white supremacy as he navigates his own experiences with racism, discrimination, nepotism, and more.
Though the inspiration for book of the other first stemmed from the inequalities Truong has grappled with as an educator at a public university, the book explores topics that go beyond this. It is unapologetically angry, not just at the university for denying Truong a tenured position several times over the course of 12 years, but at the institutions in power that allow this to continue to happen to him, and others like him.
book of the other serves as a response in outrage, a reflection to cope, and a reckoning of one’s identity. When asked what Truong wants other people of color, specifically Vietnamese-Americans to take away from his writing, he responds, “That we can all claim the uniqueness of our experiences and of our struggles. That we should not be limited to the expectations of a single narrative. That we not perform our otherness to the gaze of whiteness. That the desire to be seen is not outweighed by our capacity to see, question, and confront the conditions of our existence. That when asked, I can respond, ‘Why does it matter? I am here.’”
Purchase your own copy of book of the other here.