Love Letters to the Dirty South

“Thao Ha has written a miracle of a memoir about love in the time of mass incarceration. She writes with artistry and wisdom about growing up as a refugee, finding a community in Houston’s Little Saigon, and struggling to overcome gang violence. Most of all, she crafts a tender portrait of the remarkable man she found, lost, and found again: Hoang Vu Tran. Ha loses Vu, as his loved ones call him, when he is sentenced to sixty years in prison for aggravated assault, and when she in turn survives a gunshot wound in a pool hall. But, twenty years later, they reconnect in an unforgettable series of letters. Both Ha and Vu are exceptional writers, and their correspondence captures a love story for the ages. Ha’s memoir is as dramatic as any Hollywood film, and as devastating as anything I’ve read lately. To borrow one of Ha’s own memorable phrases, her book is ‘a luminous tragedy.’ It is also a triumph.” – Daniel A. Gross, story editor * The New Yorker *
“An urgent, lyrical coming-of-age love story that not only spans decades, but also walls. A humanizing ode to those who create their own light when facing carceral injustice.” – Carolyn Huynh, author of Fetal Position and The Fortunes of Jaded Women
“Raw and poetic, Love Letters to the Dirty South is unlike any other story you’ve read before. More than a love story, it is a compassionate polemic against social injustice and a revelatory coming-of-age memoir that will stay with you long after you’ve closed its pages.” – Eric Nguyen, author of Things We Lost to the Water
“A necessary counterpoint to the model minority myth and a beautiful, deeply felt exploration of young love as it survives the harshness of life and becomes a bond that transcends time, distance, and even death.” – Thi Bui, award-winning author of The Best We Could Do
“This memorable book chronicles the strength of immigrant families and the plight of a prison population, the broken hopes, the turning locks, the steadfast spirits.” – Laura Kalpakian, author of Undesirable: The Vietnam War and a Father’s Battle for Justice
“Thao’s story is not just a great American story but a great human story filled with heartbreak, resiliency, and most importantly, deep love. Her Homeric tale and relationship with Vu is evidence that a broken heart never fully heals, and because of that, it is always open.” – Bao Nguyen, director of The Greatest Night in Pop
“Filled with hard-earned wisdom, Thao’s coming-of-age story is an invitation to love and be loved. Refugee life, youthhood, love, loss, and grief are recognizable and heartbreaking ingredients that make for a dope read. I hold her familiar and courageous story close to my heart, as it reminds me of life’s fragile miracles.” – Lac Su, author of I Love Yous Are For White People
“Moving, electrifying, and unforgettable, Love Letters to the Dirty South leaves me breathless, devastated, and inspired. Thao Ha is a talented writer whose voice is a healing gift to our broken world.” – Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author of The Mountains Sing: A Novel
“Moving, electrifying, and unforgettable, Love Letters to the Dirty South leaves me breathless, devastated, and inspired. Thao Ha is a talented writer whose voice is a healing gift to our broken world.” – Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author of The Mountains Sing: A Novel

Thao Hà is a professor at MiraCosta College. She earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin and has published in the areas of race, immigration, and Vietnamese American experiences in the South. She was an advisor and associate producer of Seadrift, a 2019 documentary about racial violence and KKK intimidation in the 1970s against Vietnamese Americans in a small Texas fishing town. She serves as board president of the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association, executive director of Collective Freedom, and board chair of the Doan Foundation for the Arts. She lives in Oceanside, California.

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