Coming Out of My Skin: Jean-Baptiste Phou in conversation with Sokunthary Svay

In this searing memoir, Phou faces his fears and shame to examine the role his ethnic origin has played in the construction of his sexual identity and his romantic relationships in a predominantly white environment. Being gay in a largely straight world is difficult but being Asian within this sexual minority can be a doubly oppressive experience. Coming Out of My Skin deftly tackles this challenge and aspires for a reconciliation that can empower people of sexual and racial minorities to joyfully inhabit their bodies.

Jean-Baptiste Phou is writer and multidisciplinary artist born in Paris to Chinese-Cambodian parents. He wrote the play Cambodia, Here I Am! and directed the short film My Mother’s Tongue (2022) that received the Public’s Choice award at the 29th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema. He is also the author of Coming Out of My Skin (Seagull Books, 2023) and 80 mots du Cambodge (L’Asiathèque, 2024). His works explore issues of identity, exile, the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge genocide and minority experiences. He has made his home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia since 2017.

Sokunthary Svay is a Cambodian writer and performer from the Bronx. A founding member of the Cambodian American Literary Arts Association (CALAA), she has received fellowships from the American Opera Project, Poets House, Willow Books, and CUNY, as well as commissions from Washington National Opera, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the Chautauqua Institution, and ISSUE Project Room. She is a doctoral candidate in English at the CUNY Graduate Center and a Lecturer at CCNY in Harlem. Author of a poetry collection and three opera libretti, her hybrid memoir, Put it on Record: A Memoir-Archive, is now available from Willow Books.

This is a free event but we highly encourage a donation of $10 to support the work of Bluestockings’ Collective. RSVP here and pre-order a copy of the book. Masks are required.