News & Features

Thanhha Lai has written exactly one novel, Inside Out & Back Again, so to fill up this bio space she is retyping her name to include its diacritical marks: Thanhhà Lại.  Such a change has no meaning for English readers but it does thrill her mother because a Lại mustn’t ever be mistaken for a Lai.  These tiny pesky marks, not to be confused with accent marks, will be a main feature in Lại’s next novel, Listen, Slowly.  She just submitted the first draft after typing 80 pages in two weeks, so excuse her if this bio lacks focus.  Lại can often be heard muttering to herself, “la révision est toute.”