Vanessa Hua

Vanessa Hua in 2018

Vanessa Hua is a journalist and writer.

Quotes

• I think often, especially with immigrant narratives, or narratives from marginalized communities, there is room for only one narrative or that there’s only stereotypes or statistics. A River of Stars does kind of show that we do have different histories, dreams, flaws, and ambitions, and I hope people are able to really see the fullness of the humanity of each character, whether they’re major or minor.
  • On how she believes her novel expands the immigrant narrative in “A Conversation with Vanessa Hua” in Read It Forward

• I think the American dream is still what gets us out of bed every day, that life can be better…
  • On the state of the “American Dream” in “A Conversation with Vanessa Hua” in Read It Forward

• Characters, even though they’re minor, shouldn’t be a device. No person should be a device to move the plot along. That’s when you run into problems with stereotypes. I strive, in my journalism and my fiction, to make characters as complex and complicated as they are in real life…
  • On how she writes characters in “Motherhood and Migration: An Interview with Vanessa Hua on ‘A River of Stars’” in Los Angeles Review of Books (September 13, 2018)

• Fiction fosters empathy among readers by putting them in a position to consider deeply someone’s history, hopes, and ambitions…
  • On how fiction might differ from her journalist works in “Motherhood and Migration: An Interview with Vanessa Hua on ‘A River of Stars’” in Los Angeles Review of Books (September 13, 2018)