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Journalist Nguyen Qui Duc.

Journalist Nguyen Qui Duc. He works for KALW-FM in San Francisco, supplies commentaries to NPR and received the Overseas Press Club's 1989 Award of Excellence for his public radio series about returning to Viet Nam. Nguyen has written a new memoir about his family's struggle during and after the war. NGUYEN's father was an official in the South Vietnamese government who was captured by the Viet Cong and imprisoned for 12 years. In 1975, Nguyen gained passage to the U.S. on a cargo ship, and moved about from relative to relative until he settled in California. His mother stayed behind in Vietnam, lost her job as a school principal and hawked beef noodle soup on the streets of Saigon. Eventually Nguyen was reunited with his family in the U.S. His new memoir is "Where the Ashes Are: The Odyssey of a Vietnamese Family." (Addison-Wesley). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

23:13
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Other segments from the episode on March 7, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, March 7, 1994: Interview with Nguyen Qui Duc; Interview with Benjamin Cheever; Review of ZZ Top's album "Antenna."
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16:22

Novelist Benjamin Cheever.

Novelist Benjamin Cheever. He's written a second novel, "The Partisan," (Atheneum). It follows on the heels of his first novel, "The Plagiarist." Both books are funny novels. Of his first, one reviewer wrote, "Wit and pathos, so finely meshed they become inseparable, buoy the main events in this achingly funny first novel. . . This is a touching, entertaining debut." Ben is the son of the late writer John Cheever. In writing his novels Ben said he finally found his own voice, separate from his father's.

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Mai Pham Discusses Her Life and Career.

Restaurant-owner and chef, Mai Pham. Born in Vietnam and raised in Thailand, Pham came to the United States in 1975 and became the first Vietnamese journalist in this country. Her first cookbook, "The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking" (Prima) is a collection of recipes coupled with memories and reflections of life and food in South East Asian culture. Subtitled, "Favorite Recipes from the Lemon Grass Restaurant and Cafes", the book includes 150 of Pham's recipes that have drawn accolades for her three Sacramento restaurants

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"From Hollywood to Hanoi."

First-time film-maker Tiana (the Americanization of the name Thi Thanh Nga) has made a personal documentary tracing her 1988 journey back to Vietnam, where she was born: "From Hollywood to Hanoi." Her father was the head of press relations for the South Vietnamese government, and she enjoyed a privileged childhood. But her father moved the family to the United States just before the fall of Saigon. Tiana was raised in California from the age of three and became an actress in low-budget exploitation films.

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16:03

Author Robert Olen Butler.

Author Robert Olen Butler. Butler's first novel, "The Alleys of Eden," has been called one of the finest books ever written about Americans in Vietnam. Butler has a new collection of stories, called "A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain." (It's published by Henry Holt). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

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