Author Talk Love Letters to the Dirty South

In Love Letters to the Dirty South, Hà tells a deeply personal story of reckless youth, enduring love, and heartbreaking loss while exploring the Vietnamese refugee experience in the American South, family and identity in the diaspora, mass incarceration, and the justice system.

Hà will be in conversation with Paula Donnelly Roark and Tino Dinh, both locals in the DMV area. Together, they will discuss Hà's book and themes that include the ways migration, incarceration, loss, and survival are experienced by refugees, and the way literature can bridge cross-racial barriers.

Thảo Hà is a Vietnamese refugee, professor, writer, filmmaker, and nonprofit leader whose works center themes of migration, Vietnamese American experiences, and the carceral system as it impacts Southeast Asian communities.

Paula Donnelly Roark is a social science researcher, writer, and activist. She previously served as a Senior Social Scientist at the World Bank, Director of Research and Evaluation at the African Development Foundation, and as an advisor to the United Nations' UNICEF, UNDP, and British government aid. She is author of Fearless Change and Social Action in Difficult Times (2025)

Tino Dinh is a technology consultant, entrepreneur, and US Air Force Veteran based in the DMV. Tino has been active in Vietnamese-American and APA organizations for over 25 years. He holds an MBA from UVA-Darden and a BS in Foreign Area Studies/Mandarin from the US Air Force Academy. He grew up in the same mean streets of Southeast Houston as Thao, but ran with a much nerdier crew of Asians.

The event will include refreshments and feature author conversations, audience Q&A, and book signing. Book will be available for purchase.