“Sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic gave folks opportunities to pick up new skills and hobbies—knitting, gardening, home improvement, breadmaking, podcasting, power lifting. Vietnamese American author Catherine Dang didn’t find a fresh pastime while under lockdown, though. She found inspiration instead, from her mother, who one day casually regaled her with a ghoulish tale of Vietnamese refugees, murder most foul, and cannibalism. Dang, seeking a spark for a followup novel to her 2021 debut, Nice Girls, immediately set to work on what would become her sophomore effort, What Hunger, only finding out months after the fact that the story her mother told her had a basis in reality—art imitating life without even knowing it.” (Full interview published at JoySauce.)
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