Q&A With Trinity Nguyen 

Publicist Morgan Rath was kind enough to connect me with author Trinity Nguyen. Trinity’s upcoming novel A Banh Mi For Two, will be released on August 20^th of this year! A Banh Mi For Two is available to preorder now. 

Q: Trinity, would you please give a brief description of A Banh Mi For Two, & where the idea for the novel came from?

A: Hello! I’m thrilled to be featured – thank you so much! A Banh Mi for Two is a foodie romance about two girls falling in love with the city of Saigon and each other. The idea came to me in the form of a short story for a creative writing class, when I was tossing around themes about the Vietnamese diaspora and the idea of home in my head. I really wanted to write a book about the place where I was born, Sai Gon, and include characters that both look like me and are inspired by my childhood. 

Q: Did you always know that writing was your passion and what you were called to do in life?

A: Sort of! I wrote a lot of fanfics throughout my teenage years (embarrassing ones) and I’ve always been drawn to the art of writing. Writing and storytelling have always been a part of who I am and what I want to improve my craft on for as long as I can remember. 

Q: Where did the idea for A Banh Mi For Two come from? How long did it take you to write the novel?

A: A Banh Mi for Two was very much inspired by my aunt in Sai Gon who used to sell banh mi! I loved seeing her work, pedaling through our neighborhood with fresh baguettes every morning. I also wanted to capture the beauty of a city not very common in commercial fiction, much less Young Adult fiction. Plus, I badly wanted to see Vietnamese sapphics represented in books for and by queer authors! The novel took me roughly five months to draft and two years to find an agent and sell. 

Q: What lessons do you hope readers take away after reading A Banh Mi For Two? 

A: A Banh Mi for Two is a story about home, family, and hope! I want readers to be inspired by Vivi and Lan’s journey and feel encouraged to take their own leap of faith.

Q: Is your next novel a sequel to A Banh Mi For Two, or will it be a standalone novel with different characters and storyline?

A: I don’t think I’ll revisit Lan and Vivi’s story anytime soon (but we never know!) so my next work(s) will be exploring different characters with their own set of struggles, along with different themes. Though, I will always have Viet queer characters and diasporic grief as the undercurrent in whatever I write. 

Q: Who would be your dream cast to play the characters in A Banh Mi For Two? The entertainment industry needs more original content again. 

A: Great question! I love Lana Condor and Kelly Marie Tran. It would be a dream to work with them someday – fingers crossed!