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Putsata Reang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Putsata Reang (born c. 1974) is a Cambodian-American journalist and author.

Early life

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Reang was born in Cambodia and raised in Corvallis, Oregon.[1][2][3] In 1975, when she was a baby, her family left war-torn Cambodia and escaped to a naval base in the Philippines.[1][4]

Career

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Reang's writing has appeared in appeared in the New York Times, Politico,[5] the Guardian, and elsewhere.

Reang has won fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation[6][3] and Jack Straw Cultural Center.[6]

Reang's memoir Ma and Me, about her family's escape to the United States and her difficult relationship with her mother, came out in 2022.[7] It won the 2023 Pacific Northwest Book Award,[8] and was also a finalist for the 2023 Lesbian Memoir/Biography Lambda Literary Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize,[9] and the Washington State Book Award[10].[8]

Reang teaches memoir writing at the University of Washington School of Professional & Continuing Education.[2]

Personal life

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Reang is married to a woman.[11][12] As she wrote in a 2016 "Modern Love" column for the New York Times, "I’m gay, or a version of it. I came out to my mother in my 20s as gay because there is no word in our Khmer language for bisexual."[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Putsata Reang | Authors". Macmillan. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  2. ^ a b "Journalist Putsata Reang shares an immigrant daughter's story in 'Ma and Me'". www.wbur.org. 17 May 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  3. ^ a b ""In memoir writing, vulnerability is the highest rigor": An Interview with Putsata Reang". blog.pshares.org. 17 May 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  4. ^ "Putsata Reang finds home with and away from her mom in memoir 'Ma and Me'". The Seattle Times. 2022-05-30. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  5. ^ Reang, Putsata. "Opinion | My Family Fled Cambodia as the Americans Evacuated. Here's What I Hope for Afghan Refugees". POLITICO. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  6. ^ a b "Ten Questions for Putsata Reang". Poets & Writers. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  7. ^ himani (2022-08-18). "Putsata Reang's New Memoir Reckons With Lost Family History". Autostraddle. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  8. ^ a b "Ma and Me". Macmillan. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  9. ^ "2023 Awards – Dayton Literary Peace Prize". Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  10. ^ "Winners and Finalists 2006 – 2024 – Washington Center for the Book". Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  11. ^ "Ma and Me: A Memoir | Washington Independent Review of Books". www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  12. ^ "Talk to the Practitioner: Putsata Reang". The Writer. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  13. ^ Reang, Putsata (2016-07-15). "At Sea, and Seeking a Safe Harbor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-12.