Caroline Vu is a Canadian novelist of Vietnamese heritage.

Early life and education

Vu was born in 1959 in Dalat, Vietnam (South Vietnam) and grew up in Saigon. At the age of eleven, she immigrated with her mother and brother to Connecticut. The family later relocated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She has degrees in political science from McGill University, in Psychology from Concordia University, and in medicine from the University of Montreal.

Career

Vu's writings deal with issues of identity and memory, and immigration from Asia (especially Vietnam) to Canada. Her first novel, ''Palawan Story'', was published by the Deux Voiliers Publishing collective in 2014. It won the 2016 Fred Kerner Book Award for the best book by a member of the

Canadian Authors Association The Canadian Authors Association is Canada's oldest association for writers and authors. The organization has published several periodicals, organized local chapters and events for Canadian writers, and sponsors writing awards, including the Gover ...

and was a finalist for the 2014 Concordia University First Book Prize awarded by the

Quebec Writers' Federation The Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) is a not-for-profit registered charitable organization representing and serving the English-language literary community in the province of Quebec, Canada. QWF is a literary arts presenter, provides profession ...

. ''Palawan Story'' was translated and published in French by Les Éditions de la Pleine Lune in August 2017. The novel takes its name from the island of

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in ...

in the Philippines, where over half a million

Vietnamese refugees Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

were placed in a camp from 1979 to 1993. It tells the story of a young girl named Kim who through a stroke of luck is able to leave the camp at Palawan and build a life for herself first in Connecticut and then in Montreal, struggling as an adult to comprehend the chaotic history of her homeland that she had glimpsed through the eyes of a child. Vu's second novel, ''That Summer in Provincetown'', was published in 2015 in English by

Guernica Editions Guernica Editions is a Canadian independent publisher established in Montreal, Quebec, in 1978, by Antonio D'Alfonso. Guernica specializes in Canadian literature, poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Guernica's current publishers are Connie McParlan ...

. In 2016, Les Éditions de la Pleine Lune published the French translation, ''Un été à Provincetown.'' It is about three generations of a Vietnamese family who immigrate from Vietnam to Canada. As in Vu's first novel, ''Provincetown'' gives human insight into Vietnamese history. Vu has also published articles in a variety of newspapers, including The Medical Post, the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette, The Geneva Times, and

The Tico Times ''The Tico Times'' is an English-language media organization based in Costa Rica. Established in May 1956, it closed its print edition in 2012 and became an online-only publication; in 2017, it began publishing special print editions with highli ...

Bibliography

*''Palawan Story (novel)'' 2014 * ''That Summer in Provinceton (novel)'' 2015 * ''Un été à Provincetown (translated novel)'' 2016 – French translation of That Summer in Provincetown * ''Palawan (translated novel)'' 2017 – French Translation of Palawan Story * ''Television Voices (short story)'' 2017

Personal life

Vu practices medicine in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, where she lives with her two daughters. She is the widow of

Mario Laguë Mario Laguë (1958 – August 12, 2010) was a Canadian diplomat and public servant. He served as ambassador to Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua, and at the time of his death, he was the communications director for the Liberal Party of Canad ...

, who was Canadian ambassador to Costa Rica from 2004 to 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vu, Caroline Living people 1959 births Vietnamese emigrants to Canada 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian writers of Asian descent Writers from Montreal Canadian women novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Université de Montréal alumni Concordia University alumni