Connla Stokes
Writer - Flâneur/ Cycleur ~ Saigon/ HCM City.
Author of 'Falling for Saigon', a collection of essays about life in contemporary Ho Chi Minh City.
https://connla.substack.com
- Reposted by Connla StokesOur first Recovered Book from @bhousepress.bsky.social to be mentioned in Kirkus Reviews gets a starred review! Vengeance is Mine by Friedrich Torberg was written in exile in 1943. One of the earliest examples of Holocaust fiction, it's never before been translated.
- Reposted by Connla StokesThere is a new book by Mark Bowles on the way. It's called How Do People Stay The Same. It is, as you might expect, a thing of beauty and wonder. Details here: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/campaigns/vi...
- I found this satirical poem called 'The Light At The End Of The Tunnel' in the second issue of the Vietnam Grunt (1968). Below I'll also leave a lïnk for the essay I wrote about the Light at the End of the Tunnel parties held in Saigon on New Year's Eve from '67 to '70.
- I just reposted this old essay—originally published in July, 2025 by the Shanghai Literary Review—on the Substack with an added section featuring some of Richard West's observations of the zoo from 1966/1967 plus a brief anecdote from Michael Herr’s Dispatches. connla.substack.com/p/one-day-at...
- A few pix of the zoo and gardens — and there are more images on the Substack.
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- I only found out about this book after discovering that the illustrator Gerald Scarfe came to ‘cover’ the war in 66-77 — I wrote about him and his time in Vietnam with Richard West here: connla.substack.com/p/somewhat-f...
- Got me a signed copy of this highly entertaining book — Sketches of Vietnam by Richard West. Illustrated by Gerald Scarfe. Published 1968. “George - With good, boozy memories of our trip in Vietnam.” #booksky
- Got me a signed copy of this highly entertaining book — Sketches of Vietnam by Richard West. Illustrated by Gerald Scarfe. Published 1968. “George - With good, boozy memories of our trip in Vietnam.” #booksky
- Got me a signed copy of this highly entertaining book — Sketches of Vietnam by Richard West. Illustrated by Gerald Scarfe. Published 1968. “George - With good, boozy memories of our trip in Vietnam.” #booksky
- I just updated this essay (see link below) with an additional section as I found another archived article by Homer Bigart –he interviewed the 'formidable Madame Nhu' in a follow up story on the 1962 morality law that led to the banning of dancing (and other things) in South Vietnam.
- My latest essay begins in #Saigon in 1962, just as a new morality law comes into force in South #Vietnam, banning dancing (public or private). But the piece is really about Homer Bigart — a veteran reporter who had by then seen one too many wars. connla.substack.com/p/the-man-wh...
- Am reading this: Open Veins of Latin America (1971) by Eduardo Galeano, a journalist, writer, and poet from Uruguay. It's a dizzying, fascinating — and at times just heartbreaking –history. #booksky #latinamerica
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- The two CBC songs and many other rock acts from #Saigon in the lat 60s/ early 70s are featured on the compilation: "Saigon Rock & Soul: #Vietnamese Classic Tracks 1968-1974" Bandcamp link: sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/saigon... YouTube link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy5S...
- Apparently CBC BAND, an all-Vietnamese rock act that played frequent gigs in #Saigon, and also at army bases, in the mid to late 60s and early 70s, only cut two tracks in the war period — this is the less well-known track. I'll post 'Tinh You Tuyet Voi' below. www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsFN...
- My latest essay begins in #Saigon in 1962, just as a new morality law comes into force in South #Vietnam, banning dancing (public or private). But the piece is really about Homer Bigart — a veteran reporter who had by then seen one too many wars. connla.substack.com/p/the-man-wh...
- The Kids Are Alright: A photo by Eli Lotar (1908 - 1965), the French Romanian photographer and filmmaker who visited #Saigon in 1938. #photography
- Heartburn (1983) by Nora Ephron. After reading mainly for research purposes lately, I was in the mood for some funny fiction and this book is very funny. Apparently it's autobiographical – and if that's true, ouch! #booksky #novels
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- And you’d prefer to stay in tonight and read about a New Year’s Eve party rather than go to one, I have you covered…. This essay will take you back to wartime #Saigon’s most fun end of year shindig at an old villa where some young Americans lived. #vietnam #NYE connla.substack.com/p/the-light-...
- From up on high: One of Raymond Cauchetier's famous aerial shots of #Saigon, taken in 1955. You easily get a sense of what a small town it was back then….
- The cover of an old guidebook from the late 1950s. It was prepared by the American Women's Association of #Saigon and titled: “A Booklet of Helpful Information for Americans in #Vietnam” This edition was revised in May 1958.
- My latest essay will take you back to a recurring New Year's Eve party held in #Saigon at a splendid villa where a bunch of young Americans lived in the late 60s. Their “Light at the End of the Tunnel” parties became the stuff of legend. Read on: connla.substack.com/p/the-light-...
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- 1/2 A wee end of year display of some essays I wrote this year on my Substack — they’re all up here: connla.substack.com. Most of them dig into forgotten histories in #Saigon and Vietnam. Please consider having a read, liking, sharing, subscribing, etc etc —and have yourself a very Merry Christmas
- Quite a career in journalism this man had. apnews.com/article/pete...
- Some great pix of Saigon and others parts Vietnam from 1989 by a German photographer — the dudes on their bicycles in Hue being the pick of the bunch for me. saigoneer.com/vietnam-heri...
- Come to think of it, the Metropole in #Hanoi should really have a room named after Harrison Salisbury—he deserves it more than that tiresome old whinger Somerset Maugham. Anyway, my latest essay on Harrison's historic visit to Hanoi in 1966 is below... please consider reading it before #Christmas.
- I have a new essay up. It's a reconstructed narrative based on the reporting of Harrison Salisbury who audaciously visited #Hanoi in December 1966, just 9 days after it had been bombed by American planes. connla.substack.com/p/an-america...
- I have a new essay up. It's a reconstructed narrative based on the reporting of Harrison Salisbury who audaciously visited #Hanoi in December 1966, just 9 days after it had been bombed by American planes. connla.substack.com/p/an-america...
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- Always love looking at these photos of #Saigon taken by Doi Kuro who visited in late 1989 / early 1990. There are many beautiful, tender portraits amongst them but they also serve as a reminder that #HCMC was a shabby place where everyone was scraping a living. redsvn.net/100-buc-anh-...
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- Some cool looking indie bookstores in #Bangkok — bookmarking for my next visit. www.lifestyleasia.com/bk/travel/as... #bookstores #indiebookstores #booksky
- If anyone on here happens to be in the Hoi An / #Danang area and wants a copy of my book, Good Pages — a cosy little cafe - bakery - bookstore — just got a bunch of copies. #hoian #booksky ADD: 303 Cua Đai Road
- Dusting off this old book as I am writing some new pieces about hanoi “back in the day” (in my case that means 1999 and the early 2000s). Sheehan (best known for his book Bright Shining Lie) returned to Vietnam in 1989. He wrote two short essays to form this short book.
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- "Rainy seasons tended to be long and tedious, but they did end eventually. The sun would come out and turn the world idyllic again, rekindling the hopes any of us held for the future." ~ Bao Ninh, "Farewell to a Soldier's Life' — the first tale in this collection....
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- Spotted a few copies of my book Falling for Saigon at Old Compass Cafe — for those that don’t know its a cosy third floor cafe on Pasteur street in Ho Chi Minh City (right by Liberty Central Hotel), and my book is a collection of essays about moving to (and falling for) #Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh City.
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- A profile I wrote about the Vietnamese-American short story writer Andrew Lam. It originally appeared in Mekong Review in May 2025. Re-posting here on Substack for those that didn't get to see it. connla.substack.com/p/far-and-aw...
- REPOST: A very short memoir piece about one of my many poorly executed motorbike expeditions for which, as always, I – the hapless traveller – relied heavily on the kindness of strangers. And drank too much. connla.substack.com/p/postcards-... #VIETNAM #Dalat #motorbikediaries #memoir
- Repost: A comic piece of memoir writing about the storied two-for-one Visa-Whopper runs from Hanoi to the Thai capital back in the days of yore. connla.substack.com/p/hanoi-expa... #hanoi #bangkok #visaruns
- Repost of an essay about the time I went in search of a bookstore in #HCMC called Kafka but before I even got there I was sidetracked by a story about a far-out mystic who believed he could overthrow the French in #Saigon and become the ruler of Heaven and Earth. connla.substack.com/p/phan-xich-...
- Reposted by Connla StokesThere’s another wave of author impersonators offering consultations/mentoring for a price. (I got one from “Claire Keegan” telling me I’m very promising!) I’m sure you are great, but I didn’t email to tell you how swell you are. Here’s info on book scams: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/prh-fraud/
- Pictures in post below are by Eddie Adams, I have been kindly informed elsewhere. And these two are by Thomas Southall — taken in 1967. #saigon #rainydays #floodseason
- A few pictures of a rainy #Saigon for another rainy day in Ho Chi Minh City. Not sure what year or what the source — please let me know if anyone knows!
- A few pictures of a rainy #Saigon for another rainy day in Ho Chi Minh City. Not sure what year or what the source — please let me know if anyone knows!
