On this weeks episode of Campus Voices, new host Matt Hewett sat down with Viet Dinh, assistant professor of English at UD, to discuss his recently published novel: After Disasters. The novel recounts the stories of four disaster aid workers who travel to India to assist in the aftermath of a major earthquake.

Dihn talks about the passion he had for writing even from an early age, and how it has shaped his career as both an author and a teacher. He explains his writing style as an initial process of “pounding the keys furiously until that ding goes off in your head” and elaborates on the in-depth research he performed for this novel. Dinh says that the genesis of this novel began with his interest in disasters, specifically in the idea of fiction, because of the radical changes they bring and ways in which characters cope with these changes.

Dinh teaches fiction writing at UD, and his stories have been widely published. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts, as well as an O. Henry Prize, considered the nation’s most prestigious prize for short fiction.

The Interview

Professor Viet Dinh, English
28:45
55.2 MB

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• Viet Dinh recently won an O. Henry Prize for his short story “Substitutes,” which chronicles a few months in the life of a South Vietnamese middle schooler.