Draft:Khuê Phạm

• Comment: See WP:BLP. Statements, starting with the date of birth, need to be sourced or removed. Greenman (talk) 06:58, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

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Khuê Phạm at the launch of her debut novel "Wo auch immer ihr seid"

Khuê Phạm (born 1982 in West-Berlin) is a Vietnamese-German journalist and author.

Biography and Career

Khuê Phạm was born in a Vietnamese family in Berlin. She studied Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College and Sociology at the London School of Economics. Before training at the Henri-Nannen-School of journalism in Hamburg, Phạm worked as a producer at NPR ’s Berlin bureau. In 2010, she became an editor at the weekly Die Zeit, writing about politics and culture. Specializing in long-form journalism, she has co-written an investigation into the Essex Lorry deaths. She was the first journalist to profile Kevin Spacey before his sexual-assault trial in 2023. She has also interviewed Chimamanda Adichie, Ocean Vuong and Anna Wintour. In 2012, she co-wrote “Wir neuen Deutschen“, a non-fiction book about second-generation immigrants in Germany.

Khuê Phạm is a founding member of PEN Berlin and was invited by the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in 2023 and 2024 to be part of the jury for the International Literature Prize for foreign literature translated into German.

Debut Novel Brothers and Ghosts

Phạm's debut novel “Wo auch immer ihr seid” was published in 2020 and was chosen for the literature program of Berlinale "Books at Berlinale" in 2022. One year later, it was adapted to the stage as “Kim”. The English translation of her novel by Daryl Lindsey and Charles Hawley as “Brothers and Ghosts” was released in 2024. It is a multi-generational drama across three continents, revolving around a long-buried family secret leading back to the Vietnam War. Set in Berlin, Saigon and California, it tells the story a young woman discovering the traumatic past of her Vietnamese family.

Brothers and Ghosts predominantly received positive reviews for its literary elegance, emotional depth, and exploration of war and identity. NPR described it as "poignantly poised above the open abyss", while The Saturday Paper praised its depiction of displacement and inherited trauma. Aniko Press highlighted the novel’s compelling characters and its nuanced portrayal of family bonds, stating that "the characters will stay with you long after reading."

Memberships and Jury

2022: Founding member of PEN Berlin
2023: Member of the jury of the International Literature Prize 2023 at Haus der Kulturen der Welt
2024: Member of the jury of the International Literature Prize 2024 at Haus der Kulturen der Welt