To Forgive Myself w/ Loung Ung

(S4, EP 2). Khmer-American author Loung Ung joined me for this episode. She is best known for her international best-seller First, They Killed My Father.  She recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of her debut book which chronicled her survival as a young child during the Khmer Rouge genocide from 1975-1979.   This book would later be turned into a Netflix film in 2017 that Angelina Jolie would direct.  In this interview, she shared her reflections writing this book, and how this has aided in her healing from her childhood trauma from the genocide, and her relationship with Cambodia in her visits since the book.  She reminisced on her time working with Angelina and her son Maddox on the film, and their friendship together.  You can follow Loung's work at https://www.loungung.com and her Twitter @UngLoung.

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Season 4 is sponsored by Red Scarf Revolution (RSR).  RSR aims to bring awareness to the tragedies, atrocities and cultural destruction that the Cambodian people endured from 1975 to 1979 under the communist Khmer Rouge regime and how that period impacts us today.  With that awareness, Red Scarf Revolution advocates the silenced art, music, culture,  and language, with designs that incite the resiliency of the Cambodian people.  Visit their website at www.redscarfrevolution.com to check out their merch line and to learn more about their work, or follow their Instagram at red_scarf_revolution or on their Facebook.

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Bio:

LOUNG UNG is a bestselling author, activist, and co-screenplay writer of First They Killed My Father, a critically acclaimed 2017 Netflix Original Movie directed by Angelina Jolie based on her memoir.  Born in 1970 into a large, middle-class family in Phnom Penh, Loung was five years old when the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia. Four years later, in one of the bloodiest genocides of the 20th century, an estimated 2 million died under the regime. Among the victims were Loung’s parents, two sisters, and 20 other relatives. In 1980, Loung, her older brother Meng and his wife, Eang, relocated as refugees to America. 

In her first memoir, the national best-seller First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, Loung tells the story of her survival in Cambodia's Killing Fields. Her second book, Lucky Child, details her life as a refugee in Vermont and her sister Chou’s as a displaced person in Cambodia. In her third book, Lulu in the Sky, Loung chronicles her 1995 return to Cambodia as an activist to ban landmines, and her reunion with the family she left behind. Since then, she has made over forty trips back to Cambodia. 

Today, she has shared her messages of resilience, healing, civic service, activism, and leadership across the world. She has spoken at schools, universities, and organizations. Loung is a contributing writer for the groundbreaking film Girl Rising, which profiles nine girls from nine countries, including Cambodia, who are struggling against odds to achieve an education. She has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, among others.  When not writing or traveling, Loung can be found at Market Garden Brewery, one of three microbreweries she co-owns in Ohio City, Ohio.