Linh Dinh (Vietnamese: , born

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

) is a

Vietnamese-American Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth ...

poet, fiction writer, translator, and photographer. He posts travel essays and social commentary regularly in his newsletter ''Postcards from the End.'' He was a 1993 Pew Fellow.

Biography

Dinh came to the US in 1975, lived mostly in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Since 2018, he has lived mostly in Southeast Asia, but also in Europe and Africa. In 2005, he was a David Wong fellow at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

, in

Norwich, England Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

. He spent 2002–2003 in Italy as a guest of the International Parliament of Writers and the town of

Certaldo Certaldo () is a town and (municipality) of Tuscany, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Florence, located in the middle of Valdelsa. It is about southwest of the Florence Cathedral (50 minutes by rail and 35 minutes by car from the city), and 40 m ...

. He was a visiting faculty member at

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. From 2015–2016, Dinh was the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

's Institute for American Studies in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany.

Career

He is the author of two collections of stories, ''Fake House'' and ''Blood and Soap'', and five books of poems: ''All Around What Empties Out'', ''American Tatts'', ''Borderless Bodies'', ''Jam Alerts'', and ''Some Kind of Cheese Orgy''. His first novel, ''Love Like Hate'', was published in October 2010 and won the Balcones Fiction Prize. His work has been anthologized in '' Best American Poetry 2000'', '' Best American Poetry 2004'', '' The Best American Poetry 2007'', and ''Great American Prose Poems from Poe to the Present''. The Village Voice picked his ''Blood and Soap'' as one of the best books of 2004. Translated into Italian by Giovanni Giri, it is published in Italy as ''Elvis Phong è Morto''. Dinh contributed occasional columns to the fake news site Unz Review before quitting over racist treatment from commenters there. He now has a Substack page.

Works

Poetry

*''Some Kind of Cheese Orgy'', Chax Press, 2009, *''Jam Alerts'', Chax Press, 2007, *''Lĩnh Đinh Chích Khoái'', (Nhà xuất bản Giấy Vụn, Sài Gòn, 11.2007) *''Borderless Bodies'', poetry (Factory School, 2006) *''American Tatts'', poetry Chax Press, 2005, *''All Around What Empties Out'', Subpress, 2003, *''Drunkard Boxing'', Singing Horse Press, 1998,

Fiction

* Translated into Japanese (Hayakawa Publishing, 2008) and Italian (Spartaco, 2006), as ''Elvis Phong è Morto!''. * *''Love Like Hate'', Seven Stories Press, 2010,

Translations

*''Night, Fish and Charlie Parker'', a bilingual edition of Phan Nhiên Hạo's poetry (Tupelo, 2006)

Editor

*''Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam'' (Seven Stories Press 1996) *''Three Vietnamese Poets'', translations (Tinfish, 2001) *'' Night, Again: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam'', anthology, Seven Stories, 1996,

Anthologies

* *

References

External links

AsianAmericanPoetry.Com Poet Profile On Linh DinhPostcards from the End of America
Dinh's photo blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinh, Linh 20th-century American poets American male poets American writers of Vietnamese descent Academics of the University of East Anglia Pew Fellows in the Arts Vietnamese emigrants to the United States People from Ho Chi Minh City 1963 births Living people 20th-century American male writers