Truong Tran turns memoir into an open, nonlinear form

City Lights has published How to Exi(s)t: A Poet’s Memoir, the ninth book by poet, artist and teacher Truong Tran. The work adopts a nonlinear autobiographical structure to connect migration, racism, queer identity, neurodivergence and the desire to belong. Born in Vietnam and raised in the United States, Tran builds the book through fragments that question what a person inherits, what others assign to them and what can finally be put down. Its poetic dimension does not soften conflict; it creates a form capable of holding personal memory and public argument together. The 20 October publication follows a launch at San Francisco’s historic City Lights bookshop, which is also the publisher of the volume.