Episode Details

In this episode, Ken sits down with Kim Tran, the brilliant bilingual founder of Coral Books (Vietnam) and Major Books (UK). Operating from London, Kim is executing a highly strategic literary mission: while Coral Books translates deep world literature into Vietnamese, Major Books does the opposite—introducing the fierce, complex, and unpolished soul of Vietnamese literature to the English-speaking world.

Kim traces her profound internal evolution, moving from a self-described phase of corporate "Western-worship" as a teenager in 2000s Hanoi to a sharp awakening at University College London (UCL), where she realized that her own internalized bias contributed to the complete invisibility of Southeast Asian voices in global academia. She and Kenneth address the brutal economic realities of independent publishing in 2026, the toxic illusion of "perfect" translation, and why she explicitly refused to water down the gory, visceral horror elements of the June 2026 US release of Treasury of Vietnamese Folktales.

Inside this deep dive into literary theory and cultural preservation:

The Colonial Trickle-Down: Kenneth opens up about how his father's elite French education forced an inherited contempt for native Vietnamese literature—and how this podcast works to heal that scar.

The 1-Percent Margin: A raw, transparent breakdown of the punishing financial mechanics behind independent publishing and why it remains a game of absolute scale.

The Magic of Nguyễn Đổng Chi: Unpacking the legendary 1920s folklorist who spent his entire life manually tracking over 200 stories across regions, drawing comparative structural lines to Western tropes like Cinderella long before search engines existed.

Censorship vs. Literary Merit: How prominent contemporary writers inside Vietnam navigate internal frameworks while continuing to produce bold, enigmatic prose.

The Carnegie Edge: Highlighting the magnificent visual design of illustrator Duy Thanh, the first Vietnamese artist to win the prestigious Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration, utilizing lacquer painting and conch inlay styles.

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Many of you still have the chance to record and preserve the legacies of your own families. I’ve sat with families now for interview sessions to record the rich histories of parents and explore the lives of the generations that preceded them. Don’t let your family stories go untold! Take a moment to reach out and together we will bring out your family’s story on a recorded journey. - Kenneth Nguyen

Visit https://www.vietnamstorybank.com/ today for more information!