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Ka Vang
Ka Vang (RPA: Kab Vaj, Pahawh: 𖬖𖬲 𖬖𖬰𖬜; born 1975) is a Hmong-American writer in the United States. Vang was born on a CIA military base, Long Cheng, Laos, at the end of the Vietnam War, and immigrated to the United States in 1980. A fiction writer, poet, playwright, and former journalist, Vang has devoted much of her professional life to capturing Hmong folktales on paper. She is a recipient of the Archibald Bush Artist Fellowship and several other artistic and leadership awards. She is the author of the children's book, Shoua and the Northern Lights Dragon, a finalist for the 23rd Annual Midwest Book Awards in 2012.
The daughter of a major in the Royal Lao Army and a shaman, Vang grew up in her early years in Thai refugee camps before resettling in the United States Midwest, with the majority of her formative years spent in the Twin Cities and the Frogtown quarter of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Bi-culturalism was a significant issue in Vang's experience as she sought ways to succeed in both Hmong and American society, and this experience is frequently reflected in her later writing.
While issues of bi-culturalism are a part of the experiences of many Hmong refugees, Vang's approach is noteworthy for her consistent efforts to cultivate a more informed, global perspective of those issues, particularly through international travel. She has traveled to over 40 different countries for research and leisure. She is particularly interested in the stories of Asian/Hmong women, whose perspective she feels is frequently underrepresented in community discussions and literature.
Shoua and the Northern Lights Dragon was jointly published by the Minnesota Humanities Center and the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans to address the lack of children's books that speak to the experience of being an Asian Pacific Islander child or youth in the United States. The book supports the development of English literacy skills while recognizing cultural heritage and creating opportunities for children and families to learn about Asian Pacific Islander cultural heritage. Her short stories and essays have been featured in six anthologies including, “Riding Shotgun: Women Write about their Mothers,” published by Borealis Books, and “Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories” published by Lethe Press, which was a national best-seller in the United Kingdom, and the ground-breaking Asian American anthology, “Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World,” published by Penguin Books. In 2009, Ka Vang was featured in the book, “Hmong History Makers,” published by Holt DcDougal for her work collecting and preserving Hmong folklore from the Hmong people across the globe from Australia to Germany. Her work is taught in classrooms and has appeared nationally in magazines and newspapers.
Vang was one of the first Hmong-American news journalist in the world working for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Chicago Tribune, and for 10 years was a regular columnist for the Minnesota Women's Press. She lives in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, with her husband and children.
She is also featured the anthology, Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home In The World, the first Hmong writer to be featured in the series.
Among her most well-known stories is "How Ms. Pac-Man Ruined My Gang Life." Vang's work frequently incorporate elements of Magic Realism from a Southeast Asian American perspective.
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Ka Vang
Ka Vang (RPA: Kab Vaj, Pahawh: 𖬖𖬲 𖬖𖬰𖬜; born 1975) is a Hmong-American writer in the United States. Vang was born on a CIA military base, Long Cheng, Laos, at the end of the Vietnam War, and immigrated to the United States in 1980. A fiction writer, poet, playwright, and former journalist, Vang has devoted much of her professional life to capturing Hmong folktales on paper. She is a recipient of the Archibald Bush Artist Fellowship and several other artistic and leadership awards. She is the author of the children's book, Shoua and the Northern Lights Dragon, a finalist for the 23rd Annual Midwest Book Awards in 2012.
The daughter of a major in the Royal Lao Army and a shaman, Vang grew up in her early years in Thai refugee camps before resettling in the United States Midwest, with the majority of her formative years spent in the Twin Cities and the Frogtown quarter of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Bi-culturalism was a significant issue in Vang's experience as she sought ways to succeed in both Hmong and American society, and this experience is frequently reflected in her later writing.
While issues of bi-culturalism are a part of the experiences of many Hmong refugees, Vang's approach is noteworthy for her consistent efforts to cultivate a more informed, global perspective of those issues, particularly through international travel. She has traveled to over 40 different countries for research and leisure. She is particularly interested in the stories of Asian/Hmong women, whose perspective she feels is frequently underrepresented in community discussions and literature.
Shoua and the Northern Lights Dragon was jointly published by the Minnesota Humanities Center and the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans to address the lack of children's books that speak to the experience of being an Asian Pacific Islander child or youth in the United States. The book supports the development of English literacy skills while recognizing cultural heritage and creating opportunities for children and families to learn about Asian Pacific Islander cultural heritage. Her short stories and essays have been featured in six anthologies including, “Riding Shotgun: Women Write about their Mothers,” published by Borealis Books, and “Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories” published by Lethe Press, which was a national best-seller in the United Kingdom, and the ground-breaking Asian American anthology, “Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World,” published by Penguin Books. In 2009, Ka Vang was featured in the book, “Hmong History Makers,” published by Holt DcDougal for her work collecting and preserving Hmong folklore from the Hmong people across the globe from Australia to Germany. Her work is taught in classrooms and has appeared nationally in magazines and newspapers.
Vang was one of the first Hmong-American news journalist in the world working for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Chicago Tribune, and for 10 years was a regular columnist for the Minnesota Women's Press. She lives in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, with her husband and children.
She is also featured the anthology, Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home In The World, the first Hmong writer to be featured in the series.
Among her most well-known stories is "How Ms. Pac-Man Ruined My Gang Life." Vang's work frequently incorporate elements of Magic Realism from a Southeast Asian American perspective.