Anthony Veasna So (February 20, 1992 – December 8, 2020) was an American writer. His short stories were described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as "crackling, kinetic and darkly comedic" and often drew from his upbringing as a child of Cambodian immigrants. So died from an accidental drug overdose in 2020, and his debut book, a short story collection entitled '' Afterparties'', was published in 2021.

Early life and education

Anthony Veasna So was born on February 20, 1992, in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

, to auto repair shop owner Sienghay So and Ravy So, a retired claims representative for the

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...

. So was a second-generation

Cambodian American Cambodian Americans, also Khmer Americans, are Americans of Cambodian or Khmer ancestry. In addition, Cambodian Americans are also Americans with ancestry of other ethnic groups of Cambodia, such as the Chams and Chinese Cambodians. According t ...

. After fleeing the

Cambodian genocide The Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979, nearly 25% of Cambodia's populati ...

to Thailand, his parents' families settled in Stockton, where they met. His parents lived in what ''Vulture'' described as an "upper-middle-class gated enclave in West Stockton". So had a large extended family: birthdays and festivities are collectively celebrated in a large family gathering and many relatives live in close proximity to each other. With consistent good grades, So was described in his childhood as "the quiet one reading in the corner ..smart but lacked common sense. Clumsy." So had been sickly since childhood, suffering from

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

, chronic ear infections and numerous allergies. He graduated from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 2014 with bachelor's degrees in Art and English. He was a Kundiman Fellow and a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow. In December 2020, he received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, where he worked with

Jonathan Dee Jonathan Dee (born May 19, 1962) is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. His fifth novel, ''The Privileges'', was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Early life Dee was born in New York City. He graduated from Yale Univer ...

and

Dana Spiotta Dana Spiotta (born 1966) is an American author. She was a recipient of the Rome Prize in Literature, a Guggenheim Fellowship, thJohn Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. Sh ...

Career

He taught at

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

and the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. '' Afterparties'' had been the subject of a bidding war between publishers; the winning publisher,

Ecco Ecco or ECCO may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Ecco the Dolphin'' (series), a series of action-adventure science fiction video games ** ''Ecco the Dolphin'', a 1992 video game * Ecco (''Gotham''), a TV series character Organizations ...

, had offered him a six-figure sum for two books. His editor at Ecco said, "His writing is blazingly funny but also deeply empathetic. Those traits don’t come together that often." In January 2022 it was announced that ''Afterparties'' would be developed for many television prompts. A second book by So, titled ''Songs on Endless Repeat'', which includes segments of an unfinished novel he had worked on as well as nonfiction writing, was published in 2023. At the time of So's death, he lived in San Francisco with his partner, Alex Torres. He died from a drug overdose at his residence on December 8, 2020, at age 28. His book ''Afterparties'' was the winner of the 2022

Ferro-Grumley Award The Ferro-Grumley Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle and the Ferro-Grumley Foundation to a book deemed the year's best work of LGBT fiction. The award is presented in memory of writers Robert Ferro and Michael Gru ...

for LGBTQ literature.

Bibliography

Books

*''Afterparties: Stories'' (August 3, 2021), * ''Songs on Endless Repeat: Essays and Outtakes'' (December 5, 2023)

Online fiction

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:So, Anthony Veasna 1992 births 2020 deaths 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American short story writers American people of Cambodian descent American LGBTQ people of Asian descent American short story writers of Asian descent Drug-related deaths in California LGBTQ people from California American LGBTQ writers Stanford University alumni Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts alumni Writers from Stockton, California 21st-century American LGBTQ people Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows