1. We want to know what events in 2006 had a profound impact on you personally and/or professionally?

Andrew Lam: Professionally, my book, Perfume Dreams received very good reviews and it won the Pen American “beyond Margins” award. It’s my first book, and I bled myself into every word.

But it’s great to see the enthusiastic receptions it’s gotten so far. It’s even greater to see younger Vietnamese coming up from the audience and telling me how much they appreciate to have a text that’s written by someone who came from the same history as their own. They’d tell me how much there’s a need for these narratives in which Vietnamese Americans are central of the story. It gives me courage to trying to finish up my second book, which is a collection of short stories.

2. Also, what did you believe to be the most significant event that occurred within the Vietnamese community in 2006?

AL: I just finished writing an article on the republican candidate Tan Nguyen in Orange county who is facing possible arrest for allegedly mailing out flyers to 14,000 people in Spanish warning them not to vote, or else they might be arrested and deported. I interviewed a dozen or so Vietnamese language journalists in California who covered the issue and they all said: One rotten apple does not spoil a whole basket. Or they wonder if it does?

Tan Nguyen brought shame to many in the Little Saigon community and burned bridges for them with the Latino community. But what is so astonishing is that besides him, there are 14 other Vietnamese Americans running for public office. The basket is growing big and plentiful.

This is unprecedented. The last time mainstream media shone its lime light onto Little Saigon was when Truong Tran, the video storeowner, put up a Ho Chi Minh poster and thousands -55,000 at one point – Vietnamese came out to protest. But now, Vietnamese are taking their voice into the political arena as well, and not simply shouting from the sidewalk. That’s refreshing. I really hope that indeed one apple is not going to rot the whole basket. But regardless, as a community, we have matured and moved, like that of the Cubans in Miami, slowly but surely, into the public and civic arena and that is encouraging.

3. As far as your personal and professional goals are concerned, what are you looking forward to in the year 2007?

AL: Well, I helped found New America Media, an association of 2,000 plus ethnic media organizations in the US. It’s been growing fast and furious. It’s really rewarding to be part of a civic project beyond the pale of writing and reporting – which is what I usually do – and to see it becoming a legitimate entity with an influence on public sector. When we started, we couldn’t get even a local politician to come to our expo and award events. But now, governors and senators are knocking on our doors wanting to speak at these events. Why? One paper – Nguoi Viet or Singtao – can’t get attention of mainstream personalities on their own. But 20 or 30 gathering in one place and suddenly advertisers and politicians see a big constituency starting back at them.

Vietnamese newspapers, radio and tv programs are now participating in NAM far more than before. I’d make sure at least one or two articles from Vietnamese press get on our website (news.newamericamedia.org) which is read by journalists of the mainstream press as well as ethnic press. We encourage cross border pollination – La Opinion to use Nguoi Viet’s stories. Singtao to run articles by young black writers in Final Call. NY Times, Washington Post, LA times reporters all get on our website to find out what’s happening in the various ethnic communities and for story ideas. Increasingly I’m in a position to help bring visibility not just to Vietnamese but Chinese, Japanese, Latino communities as well. That’s really democracy – when all sections are sounded and voices are heard.

And a few Vietnamese writers and news organizations are winning our much-coveted NAM award. It’s been called the Pulitzer of the ethnic press by some. It’s been hard work. My father and I single-handedly translated many articles from Vietnamese to English in order for the judges to read and judge them. But we both agreed: the writing qualities are improving.

4. What are your future projections for the Vietnamese community in the year 2007? Is there something in particular that you are looking forward to, or something you would like the Vietnamese community to achieve for the upcoming year?

AL: Here’s what in my fantasy for our community, and not just 2007. If I were really rich I would give awards to Vietnamese American writers who write passionately about our community and our history. And for artists as well. It’s time a maturing community like ours to recognize its own talents and encourages their voices. We have moved, after all, passed the survival stage to what I would say, expressive stage. We are venturing in the arenas of politics and arts. We can express ourselves and we should. To not speak up in America is to practically not exist at all.

But more: I would give lots of money for translation work. Why? There’s a dire need to hear Vietnamese point of views, especially those of the older generation. I have Vietnamese American college students who came up to me and said: “I can speak a little Vietnamese but can’t read it. I do research on Vietnam and the majority of the texts in English are either from Hanoi and Americans writers.” Where’s the history of Little Saigon? They exist in books like “Trai Cai Tao” and “Vuot Bien” – first person narratives about re-education camps and boat people experiences, written in Vietnamese. But these self same people, who sweated and bled to write these stories and unfortunately, their children can’t access it. Which also means, the rest of American cant’ access it. Yet there are a lot of amazing stories waiting to be heard. When we are all gone, it’s the text, the stories that survive. And our history cannot survive without care and nurture and a willingness to communicate, to testify. We need to make our history known in everyway possible. That is part of the reason why I became a writer.