Beth Nguyen, Global Treasure
On Thursday, March 28, nonfiction author Beth Nguyen visited the St. Lawrence University campus for her Spring 2024 Writers Series event. She is the author of two memoirs, “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner,” and two novels, “Short Girls” and “Pioneer Girl,” as well as several published articles in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Literary Hub, Time Magazine and The Best American Essays.
When she is not penning the next great “American” classic, Nguyen teaches undergraduate creative writing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is quite familiar with the area, having grown up in Michigan and received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan.
Nguyen’s journey to SLU was also an entertaining story. After landing in Syracuse, New York, she stayed overnight in a hotel and drove up the following morning, barely making it to campus at 11:30 a.m. before her lunch with four eager English major students. One such student, Shelby Maguire ’24, remarked Nguyen “was very comfortable to talk with. It was nice to speak with a writer who wants to chat about our interests.”
Nguyen was notably impressed by SLU’s diverse culinary buffet at Dana Dining Center. From the mac ‘n’ cheese and chicken tender feature to the oft–underwhelming vegetarian options, she was damn near overwhelmed by the selection. Students often take the vast array for granted, but Nguyen, much like her writing, seeks out the underappreciated privileges in the world.
After lunch, Nguyen joined a class of advanced creative nonfiction students during their afternoon class. The topic of discussion was Nguyen’s essays “I Grew Up Not Knowing My Birthday” and “I Was a Vietnamese Refugee.” Both are prime examples of her insightful reflection and forward-think- ing mentality about her unique up- bringing after moving to the States from Saigon, Vietnam, in the mid- 1970s. The classroom flourished with conversations about identity, home, personal voice, and Netflix’s “Love Is Blind,” an unexpected favorite of Nguyen.
During her talk at 8 p.m., Nguyen read selections from her recent 2023 memoir, “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” The memoir trails her journey from Saigon to Michigan and beyond. Onlookers sat in awe of her charming personality and knack for conversational speech. But what shone through most in Beth’s speech was her humanity, a strong grounding to how the narrative of her life has shaped everything to come and how best to move forward with a past of hardships. Nonfiction student Rhett Mercier ’25 remarked that “she didn’t let her situation define her; she grew above and didn’t let it dwell on the past. She tried to get her mother’s admiration. But when she didn’t, she knew it was time to move on.”
Nguyen is the fifth writer of the 2023–24 academic year to visit SLU, following Tom Piazza, Tessa Yang ’15, Daphne Kalotay and Viebranz Visiting Professor Santee Frazier. Frazier is also the 2023-2025 Viebranz Visiting Professor, a student-favorite professor of the semester.
However, Nguyen is not the last visitor of the year. On April 18 in the Sykes Common Room, poet Jason Koo will discuss his slew of poetry collections. His three collections, “More Than Mere Light,” “America’s Favorite Poem” and “Man on Extremely Small Island,” are available to browse in the Owen D. Young Library catalog. Koo is also the judge of SLU’s 2023 James Ligon Price III Memorial Prize in Poetry. Winners for the contest will be announced in late April.