It’s finally happening. After months of wrestling with contracts, polishing edits, shaping the cover, reviewing proofs, and mapping out the launch, Land of Dreams: An Immigrant’s Journey from War-Torn Vietnam to America (University of Tennessee Press) is back from the printer. And on June 9—the official release date, now just days away—it goes out into the world. Officially alive.

As mentioned in previous posts, this is the culmination of a years-long project that began with a simple house cleaning during the pandemic lockdown. That long overdue exercise unexpectedly unearthed several boxes of old correspondence and photographs dating back to my early years in America (the 1970’s-1980’s). Those recovered mementos, in turn, inspired a series of essays that attempted to recapture memories worn and softened by time. Over the next thirty months, to my surprise, the essays grew in both scope and number until they eventually evolved into this memoir—a reflection on those tumultuous years marked by monumental upheavals that shaped not only my life, but also the lives of my family and countless others.

Because of what this memoir means to me and my family, I had hoped the manuscript would be picked up and the book published in 2025, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. With the long and careful process of curation and publication, however, the schedule slipped to June 2026. But then it dawned on me: this year marks the 250th birthday of America—our adopted homeland—and having Land of Dreams released just ahead of the Fourth of July feels especially meaningful.

The memoir has already begun to find its audience. Publishers Weekly called it a “concise and affecting” narrative that “bursts with hope… It’s a balm.” The book has also received generous endorsements from Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler, Vassar College historian Robert Brigham, and National Book Award winner Julia Glass, who describes it as “a tale that speaks not only to the rewards of sacrifice and perseverance but to family loyalty and the pioneering spirit embodied by the earliest Americans. I was moved and inspired.” Click HERE to read the Advance Praise in full.

I hope you’ll celebrate with me and help spread the word about the book’s release by sharing this post with your own network. For those who pre‑ordered, your copies should already be in hand or arriving any day now. After you’ve had a chance to read it — and if it speaks to you — I would be grateful if you left a review on Amazon. Hearing from friends and readers is always a joy.

Thank you for your support, and I wish you a wonderful summer!