An Interview with Graphic Novelist Thien Pham

Author and cartoonist Thien Pham enjoys a bowl of pho in this promotional image for his 2023 graphic memoir Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam, published by First Second Books (Macmillan).

This is my talk with Thien Pham, an artist and writer who was recently awarded the Eisner award for best graphic memoir, for his 2023 autobiographical graphic novel, Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam¹.

I talked to Mr. Pham after his first book, 2012’s Sumo², and I’m sharing this interview with you again, today, just after I finished reading Mr. Pham’s latest graphic novel, Family Style. I bought my own copy yesterday and read it cover to cover in one sitting. It is very good and I highly recommend it.

Family Style tells the story of Mr. Pham’s life growing up in America, from before his arrival in the U.S., travelling with his family as boat people at the age of five, surviving pirates, to the Songkhla Refugee Camp in Thailand, through to settling and growing up in San Jose, California.

Today, Mr. Pham works as a high school art teacher, a calling which he loves, and continues while writing and drawing his books.

Pham, T. (2023). Family style: Memories of an American from Vietnam. New York, NY: First Second Books, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan.

I was moved by Mr. Pham’s sensitive reflection on his family’s travails and it put me in mind of all the struggling ordinary people living in fear, trying to work and survive in the United States, people who are, in most ways, just like Thien Pham, me, and, probably, just like you.

Pham, T. (2012). Sumo. New York, NY: First Second Books, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan.

Family Style is a warm and moving reflection on his family’s life and challenges as they struggled to live safely in the world and achieve the American dream. I highly recommend Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam . Thien Pham’s books are pretty great, he’s a lovely person, and I hope you enjoy this interview.

You may buy Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam here or wherever you get your books.

Best,
G. A.

P.S. Enjoying this? Buy the cat a coffee and keep it going.

P.P.S. If you enjoyed this conversation, you may also like my talk with the creator of the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund (Denis Kitchen), the creator of Captain Canuck (Richard Comely), and the creator of Yobs (Tony Husband)

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Credits:

Canadian content reference credits: Mr. Pham and I talk a little about the Canadian hero Louis Riel, and the Canadian graphic novelist, Chester Brown, whose graphic novel, Louis Riel: A comic-strip biography³, is published by Canada’s own Drawn & Quarterly.

We also talk about Mr. Pham’s work with his friend and colleague, Gene Luen Yang⁴, author of American born Chinese⁵, with whom Mr. Pham worked on their 2011 book, Level up⁶.

Opening credits: the countdown at the start of the recording is modified from the NBC radio program X-1⁷.

Music credits: the closing music is Passionate Actions⁸ by Underground Collective.

1. Pham, T. (2023). Family style: Memories of an American from Vietnam. New York, NY: First Second Books, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan.

2. Pham, T. (2012). Sumo. New York, NY: First Second Books, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan.

3. Brown, C. (2003). Louis Riel: A comic-strip biography. Montreal, QC: Drawn & Quarterly.

4. Mr. Gene Yang is a fellow Eisner award recipient.

5. Yang, G. L. (2006). American born Chinese. New York, NY: First Second Books, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan.

6. Yang, G. L., & Pham, T. (2011). Level up. New York, NY: First Second Books, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan.

7. NBC Radio. (1955–1958). X Minus One [Radio broadcast]. National Broadcasting Company. https://archive.org/details/XMinus1_A

8. The Underground Collective. (2013, March 24). Passionate actions [Song]. SoundCloud.