Writer | Thu-Huong Ha

I'm Thu. I'm a freelance writer and critic currently based in Tokyo. I write about art, books, and occasionally TV. I've written about adults coloring and women defending themselves. Also circles, commas, and the letter "g."

Previously I was the books reporter for Quartz and context editor at TED. I also cofounded TEDxNewYork and was the executive producer of its first two flagship events. My debut novel, Hail Caesar, was published in 2007 by Scholastic/PUSH and was named an NYPL Book for the Teen Age.

I'm the grateful recipient of a 2021 Blakemore Freeman Fellowship for the study of advanced Japanese. Previously I was an Atlantic Media fellow and a Fulbright grantee in Turkey.

Here's a selection of my writing. Stories were published on Quartz except where noted:

Features:

Bolivia’s most Instagrammable houses showcase indigenous peoples’ reclaimed power

We can chip away at rape culture by teaching girls emotional self-defense

A keeper of seeds hopes to save the world from starvation (TED Ideas)

Reviews and criticism:

The Incendiaries, by R.O. Kwon (The New York Times Book Review)

Heaven, by Mieko Kawakami (The Washington Post)

The Fifth Risk, by Michael Lewis

The Death of Truth, by Michiko Kakutani

Barracoon, by Zora Neale Hurston

HBO's My Brilliant Friend