Lit Crawl SF 2026 | CôEm Collective Presents: Monsters, Myths, and Me

Join us for a Lit Crawl reading with CôEm writers Kathy L. Nguyễn, BeBe Khue Jacobs, Jeanie Ngo, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, and Vina Vo! The Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network is thrilled to be a part of Lit Crawl SF 2026 ! While there will be exciting literary events all across the Mission District, don’t miss the CôEm Collective’s reading: Monsters, Myths, and Mẹ Through themes of creation, ritual, and tradition, these writers trace patterns carried across generations—from our mythical origin, to a lost motherland, to the present day and beyond. This reading invites us to witness how inherited stories—both told and untold—bind us, fracture us, and offer the possibility of new life. It asks: What do we inherit? What do we choose to carry forward? And what do we lay to rest? -- This event is FREE, but space is limited. RSVPs are highly encouraged, but entrance will be on a first-come, first-served basis. If you'd like to request special accommodations, please email us at hello@dvan.org. CôEm is a poem to our motherland. We are a sisterhood of intergenerational diasporic Vietnamese American women writers. Vietnamese women’s voices are often silenced, overlooked, erased or appropriated. We create space where we can hear one another, forge community through collaboration, write and present our art on our own terms. CôEm Collective is an initiative of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN). Isabelle Thuy Pelaud is a professor at SF State University, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN). She is the author of This Is All I Choose To Tell: History and Hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature and co-editor of The Cleaving: Vietnamese Writers in the Diaspora . BeBe Khuê Jacobs is a multidisciplinary artist, architect, photographer, art educator and community builder. Her deep passion for writing stems from childhood eavesdropping on her grandmother’s poetry gatherings. BeBe is currently working on a memoir about her childhood in Vietnam and a poetry collection translating her grandmother’s poems and reimagining them into paintings. Jeanie Ngo is a San Francisco playwright whose works have been produced at SFSU, Bindlestiff Studio, Exit Theatre, PianoFight, Stage Werx, B8 Theatre, and Potrero Stage. Her short stories have been published in Transfer 109 and Quiet Lightning and her poetry has been featured at the Abrams Claghorn Gallery. Kathy L. Nguyễn is an SF-based writer and Co-Executive Director of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN). Her short stories, essays, and articles have appeared in Fourteen Hills , Fringe , Women’s World , and elsewhere. She is co-editor of T roubling Borders: Art & Literature by Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora . Kathy has received grants and fellowships from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Vashon Artists Residency, Tin House, and the Community of Writers. Vina Vo is a storyteller, facilitator, and organizer who bridges the cultural and geographic divide caused by displacement and diaspora. Her professional and community work revolve around creating and nurturing communities of belonging through storytelling, interactive learning experiences, and activating spaces for joy and play.