The Marino Family International Writers' Workshop 2025: em

A companion exhibition to the Marino Workshop.

Stephen Richard Kerbs Exhibit Area

Threads of Time: Vietnamese Stories Through War and Peace

Em is a lyrical and haunting novel by Vietnamese-Canadian author Kim Thúy, exploring the emotional aftermath of the Vietnam War. The title “em” in Vietnamese can mean “little brother,” “little sister,” or “beloved,” and the novel lives up to this intimacy. Through fragmented vignettes, Thúy traces the lives of orphaned children, displaced families, and survivors of historical events like Operation Babylift and the My Lai Massacre. Her prose is poetic and spare, revealing how trauma, exile, and love intertwine across generations and continents.

About the Author: Kim Thúy
Born in Saigon, Kim Thúy fled Vietnam as a child and resettled in Quebec, Canada. She writes in French, and her works are widely translated. Her debut novel Ru won the Governor General’s Literary Award and was championed on Canada Reads 2015. Thúy’s writing blends personal memory with historical reflection, often focusing on the Vietnamese diaspora and the resilience of refugees. Her style is known for its elegance, brevity, and emotional depth.

The images in this exhibition have been selected to complement the themes in the story. They begin with international photojournalistic coverage of the war from the Art Collection, followed by documents and ephemera in the University Archives showing how the war played out on campus and in organized protests in the city of Washington.  

Book jacket of em by Kim Thuy. Colorful abstract circles with two silhouettes of couples in miniature.

em

Kim Thúy
Translated by Sheila Fischman
London: Seven Stories Press, 2021
PQ3919.3.T48 E413 2021

Cover of the book Ru by Kim Thúy. Central Asian medallion design with a serpent. A row of trees above with a figure carrying a red umbrella.

Ru: A Novel

Kim Thúy
Translated by Sheila Fischman
Toronto : Random House Canada, 2012
PQ3919.3.T48 R813 2012

Black and white photo of several Vietnamese soldiers seated in a linear formation wearing helmets. The one in front looks upward.

New Recruits in Vietnam

Mark Godfrey
AP Wire Photo
1970
Gift of the Elishis Family
2022.5.121

“Recently inducted into the Army of South Vietnam, these young Vietnamese are getting their first taste of routinized life in the military. They are sitting ‘in formation’ after being issued helmets and field gear at the Quang Trung National Training Center, 10 miles northwest of Saigon.”
 

Black and white photo of 2 children and a woman seated on the ground with a US soldier on either side of them. The one on the left points a rifle at the civilians.

Under Guard

Bob Ibrahim 
UPI (United Press International)
1965
Gift of the Elishis Family
2022.5.125

“An old Vietnamese woman and two children are temporarily kept under guard by U.S. Marines after being flushed from a brush where they were taking cover from nearby fighting south of Da Nang.”
 

Double photo in black and white. A Vietnamese boy on the left receives an injection in the right arm, and a baby on the right is held back to viewer while a doctor administers an injection.

Operation MILPHAP

Charles R. Eggleston
UPI (United Press International)
1967
Gift of the Elishis Family
2022.5.119

“While one Vietnamese youngster throws out his chest as he’s inoculated against cholera another child is “attacked” from the rear in “Operation MILPHAP” at An Loc in Bing Loc Province, 60 miles north of Saigon. The MILPHAP team (Military Provincial Hospital Assistance Program) provides the only medical service for the entire province. In the last two months, the team has succeeded in visiting every village and hamlet in the province not directly under Viet Cong control.”
 

Image of a black and white photo of war scene in Vietnam with a statue of a US soldier being toppled. No people visible.

Toppling of a Military Monument

Philippe Buffon 
Sygma 
1975
Gift of the Elishis Family
2022.5.113

“Saigon’s most visible symbol of the Thieu regime, a monumental statue of an armed marine, fell to Communist forces last April, as did South Vietnam.” This picture appeared in the winter LIFE Special Report, “The Year in Pictures,” in 1976.

Image of a drawing of a US soldier in combat gear facing the viewer at half length. Details of buildings and people in Vietnam in the background.
Image of a hand written letter in black writing on white paper titled Motivation, Method and Madness.

Portrait of the Artist as Volunteer

Mitchell Jamieson 
Motivation, Method and Madness
1969
Gift of James W. Elder
1988.37.361

Mitchell Jamieson, an award-winning WWII artist, volunteered to document the war in Vietnam. His self-portrait is accompanied by a hand-written description of the process of art making and the evident horror he experienced on the front lines, referring to the war as a “plague.” Profoundly affected by the events he witnessed in Vietnam, Jamieson committed suicide in 1976.

Printed flier with title in blue bold text. Behind the text is a greyed out image of rifles in a straight row, pushed vertically into the groud

March on Washington November 15 to Bring All the Troops Home Now!

March Against Death
A Vietnam Memorial
Gift of John E. Carmody (F 1973)
University Archives

Image of a printed flier Titled How Many More Must Die? Above the text is a black and white photo of 9 Vietnamese children standing in a line on a plank of wood, their shadows in the foreground.

How Many More Must Die?

March Against Death - A Vietnam Memorial
Mass March and Rally - Saturday, November 15
Washington, D.C.
Gift of John E. Carmody (F 1973) 
University Archives

Image of a bumper sticker with white letters on a blue background and a white dove on the left.

Work for Peace November 13 & 14

Bumper Sticker
Gift of John E. Carmody (F 1973) 
University Archives

Image of an orange bumper sticked with black lettering in 3 horizontal rows.

Vietnam: Time's Up

Bumper Sticker
Gift of John E. Carmody (F 1973)
University Archives

Image of 3 VIetnam protest buttons. Two blue buttons have a white dove. The largest button is orange with black bold letters.

Work for Peace - March on Washington Nov 15 - PEACE

Vietnam Protest Buttons
Gift of John E. Carmody (F 1973) 
University Archives

The protest flyers, bumper stickers and buttons shown above are from the John E. Carmody (F 1973) Student Collection GTA-121023, box 1. 

Image of the cover of the Georgetown Voice newspaper with 3 photos of student protesters.

National Moratorium Begins Tomorrow

Cover of the Georgetown Voice student newspaper
October 14, 1969
Vol. 1, No. 5
University Archives

"The National Moratorium to end the Vietnam war will open its first peace offensive tomorrow across the nation."

Image of a typed press release announcing the building of a new library dedicated to a Vietnam War vet.

Georgetown to Name New Library for Alumnus Killed in Vietnam

Georgetown University Press Release
Page one of two, not dated
University Archives

Acknowledgments

Curated by Ding Ye (Asian Studies Liaison and Reference Librarian), with contributions from LuLen Walker (Art Curator) and Lynn Conway (University Archivist).