Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War

Saigon native, poet and author Teresa Mei Chuc will speak about the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, her family’s experience immigrating to the U.S. and read from her book, Red Thread on Thursday, July 17, 7:00 p.m. at Pasadena Public Library’s Central Library, 285 E. Walnut St.

Chuc was born in Saigon, Vietnam, shortly after the war that bombed her people and her homeland. She and her family survived, although her parents were separated for a long time. Chuc, her brother, and their mother escaped Vietnam in a ship crowded with hungry, sick, and frightened immigrants. Under political asylum, they settled in California, where eventually they were reunited with her father, who had spent nine years in a Vietcong “re-education” camp.

Nominated for a Pushcart Prize for “Truth is Black Rubber,” a section of poems from Red Thread, Chuc is a graduate of the Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, and teaches literature and writing at a public school. Her poems appear in journals including EarthSpeak Magazine, National Poetry Review, Rattle, and Verse Daily.

For more information, contact Christine Reeder, creeder@cityofpasadena.net or (626) 744-7076.