Author and former refugee, Kao Kalia Yang Reveals the Life, Loss, and Hmong Legacy of the Secret War in Laos

10/13/20 • 47 min

Live Drop guest Kao Kalia Yang is a celebrated Hmong-American writer.
She holds degrees from Carleton College and Columbia University. Yang is the author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir winner of the 2009 Minnesota Book Awards in Creative Nonfiction/Memoir and Readers’ Choice, a finalist for the PEN USA Award in Creative Nonfiction, and the Asian Literary Award in Nonfiction.
Her second book, The Song Poet won the 2016 Minnesota Book Award in Creative Nonfiction Memoir, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, a PEN USA Award in Nonfiction, and the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize.
Yang’s debut children’s book, A Map Into the World is a American Library Association Notable Book of the Year, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book, winner of the Northstar Best Illustrator Award, and winner of the 2020 Minnesota Book Award in Children’s Literature.
Her co-edited collection titled What God is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss By and For Indigenous Women and Women of Color is a groundbreaking work that centers the poetry and prose of women whose voices have been neglected and silenced on the topic despite the fact that they experience these losses disproportionately.
Her most recent Children's book: The Most Beautiful Thing was just published on October 6th, 2020. Kalia is also a teacher and public speaker.

I wanted to talk to Kalia about the legacy of the Secret War in Laos - how it is remembered in the Hmong diaspora. A civil war fought alongside Vietnam's in the shadows by the CIA, with Hmong fighters against communist insurgents. I ended up having an enlightening cultural conversation with a poet in real time about birth, life, suffering, loss, death and grief in Hmong tradition and in current-day America.
Her next book Somewhere in the Unknown World – a collective memoir about the lives of refugees - is available for pre-order and comes out on November 8th, 2020.
You can find out more about Kalia and her work at kaokaliayang.com

Episode 49
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Previous Episode

Author Jonathan Dyer Switches Back to his Time on Teufelsberg as an Army Intercept Operator with Field Station Berlin

Jonathan Dyer spent three years during the Cold War living and working in Berlin as a Russian Linguist for the Army's Intelligence and Security Command at Field Station Berlin. From 1983 through 1986, Dyer worked at the NSA’s intercept site on Teufelsberg in what was at the time West Berlin. He was a SIGINT intercept operator and transcriber - his job was to keep tabs on the USSR’s military activities in the Group of Soviet Forces Germany.
The Nick Temple Files
His experiences in Berlin serve as the background for his Cold War thrillers, the Nick Temple Files, and his 21st century thriller, The Holy Lance. Dyer's eclectic body of work includes a post-modern existential novella, Judging Paradise, and a coming-of-age novel, Let Me Explain, that draws heavily on his adolescent years at a New England prep school.
You can follow Jonathan on Twitter @JPDyer, and his website below contains links to find his books and posts about Cold War Berlin and Espionage Writing.
JonathanDyerAuthor.comthelivedrop.com
Episode 48
If you've enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more, please consider signing up as a contributing patron and join the community for exclusive commentary, and content. A $10 a month donation will really keep us going ---> https://www.patreon.com/thelivedrop

Alternatively, if you would like to help make Season Three operational you could offer a one time donation of any amount right here ---> https://www.paypal.me/thelivedrop

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Mark Valley
Creator/Host

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Next Episode

A Moscow Station Conversation with John Sipher who Shares the Secret to a Good Spy Story

The Live Drop's 50th Episode - John Sipher - CIA & Spycraft Entertainment

from Spycraftentertainment.com

John retired in 2014 after a 28-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency’s National Clandestine Service. At the time of his retirement, he was a member of the CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service, the leadership team that guides CIA activities globally. John served multiple overseas tours as Chief of Station and Deputy Chief of Station in Europe, Asia, and high-threat environments. He has significant experience working with foreign and domestic partners to solve national security challenges. John also served as a lead instructor in the CIA’s clandestine training school, and was a regular lecturer at the CIA’s leadership development program. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal.

John is a sought-after foreign policy and intelligence expert. John speaks regularly on foreign policy and intelligence issues. His articles have been published in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Politico, Foreign Affairs, Newsweek, Slate, Lawfare, The Cipher Brief and Just Security, among others. He regularly appears on the PBS NewsHour, CNN, MSNBC, BBC and other outlets.

Twitter: @john_sipher

In this episode John starts off with a discussion of his article Murdering Reality: The Spurious Spies of Spy Fiction, and some of the mistakes writers and filmmakers are prone to make. After a thorough discussion of the history of Soviet intelligence into the rise of Vladimir Putin, John shares some of his experience and perceptions of Russia during his service with CIA. Unwilling to go quietly into consulting, Sipher reveals why he decided to take his expertise and storied career into the entertainment business. The Live Drop Podcast is fortunate to have had John as a guest for such a fun and far ranging discussion.

References to links, and works are below:

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Mark Valley

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