About the Contributors

Kevin Bowen served as a soldier in Viet Nam from 1968 to 1969. He is the cotranslator of Distant Road by Nguyen Duy, A Time Far Past by Luu Le, and Mountain River: Vietnamese Poetry from the Wars, 1948-1993. Bowen is also the author of two books of poetry: Forms of Prayer at the Hotel Edison and Playing Basketball with the Viet Cong. He is the director of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Bradajo (aka Jozuf Hadley) is a third-generation kama'äina from Kaua'i. After serving in the air force, he studied art in Oakland, became an art teacher, and then moved to O'ahu's North Shore in the midsixties. He obtained an MFA in art from the University of Hawai'i and, after a life-changing experience in Waimea Canyon, began to write poetry in Hawai'i folk talk. His first book, Chaloookyu Eensai, was published in 1972. He retired from teaching in 2000.

Don Mee Choi was born in South Korea and came to the United States in 1981. She lives in Seattle and is involved in translating the work of several contemporary Korean women poets. Recent work by her appears in Arts & Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture and Seneca Review.

Martha Collins has published four books of poems, the most recent of which is Some Things Words Can Do (Sheep Meadow, 1998). The Women Carry River Water, a collection of poems by Vietnamese writer Nguyen Quang Thieu, was cotranslated with the author and was published by the University of Massachusetts in 1997. She teaches at Oberlin College.

Linh Dinh was born in Saigon in 1963, came to the United States in 1975, and now divides his time between the States and Viet Nam. He is the author of a collection of stories, Fake House (Seven Stories Press, 2000), and three chapbooks of poems, Drunkard Boxing (Singing Horse Press, 1998), A Small Triumph Over Lassitude (Leroy Press, 2001), and A Glass of Water (Skanky Possum Press, 2001). He is also the editor of the anthologies Night, Again: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam (Seven Stories Press, 1996) and Three Vietnamese Poets (Tinfish, 2001).

Thuy Dinh is a writer and attorney living in the Washington, D.C., area. Her essays and reviews have appeared in the anthology Once Upon a Dream: Twenty Years of Vietnamese-American Experience (Andrews and McMeel, 1995) and the magazines Amerasia Journal, Rain Taxi Review of Books, Hop Luu, and Viet Magnet.

Do Kh. was born in 1955 in Hai Phong. After studying in Paris in 1974, he decided to return to South Viet Nam, where he enlisted in the army; later, he went back to Paris, where he now lives. His publications include The Poetry of Do Kh., Unspeakable Chagrins, The Rain-Making Stick, Record of the Trip to the West, and Prewar Time. He cofounded Hop Luu journal and Tap Chi Tho.

Du Tu Le is the pen name of Le Cu Phach. He was born in 1942 in Ha Nam Province, moved to the South between 1954 and 1955, and now lives in the United States. In 1973, he received the first prize in literature given by the Republic of South Viet Nam. One of the most prolific poets living in exile, he has written over thirty works of poetry and prose. Some of his recent collections of poetry are Looking at Each Other, We See Mountains and Rivers,Love Poems,What Cries/On the Other Side of the Weather, and Reflection in the Looking Glass. Many of his poems have been set to music.

George Evansserved as a medic in Viet Nam. His poetry has been widely acclaimed and anthologized; his most recent collection is The New World (Curbstone Press, 2002). He is also a translator and novelist. His story in this issue is excerpted from his novel in progress, AYear without Sleep. He lives in San Francisco.

H. E. Francis has published short fiction and translations in numerous journals as well as in TheO...