CONTRIBUTORS

André Dao

André Dao is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. He is the co-founder of Behind the Wire, an oral history project documenting the experiences of people in mandatory immigration detention.

http://behindthewire.org.au/

A Book Which Is No Longer Discussed Today

To get to my grandfather’s bookshelf we first had to remove the strata of life-giving impedimenta that had built up over the last twenty years: oxygen tanks, IV drips, a hospital-style care bed; a certified, handmade icon of Mary and the infant Jesus, a Mary-shaped bottle of Lourdes miracle water, and another icon of Mary and child – Vietnamised now, with black hair and dark, almond-shaped eyes, dressed in the traditional silk robes of pre-colonial, independent Vietnam.

Posted in ESSAYS | Tagged , , , ,