Harlan Margaret
Harlan Margaret
"Even at her young age, Harlan Margaret Van Cao is a fresh new voice, with an arresting, and unnerving way with language." -Amy Chua
The Memoir: Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter
This dual first-person memoir explores a complex intergenerational relationship affected by past tragedy and cultural clashes. Harlan writes through the female gaze with her mother, the acclaimed Vietnamese-American novelist Lan Cao.
Harlan spent her childhood immersed in academia, travel, and art. This multicultural and peripatetic upbringing gave way to an intense love for creating.
She is a recently graduated student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She majored in Psychology with an emphasis on social relationships, and minored in Film with a focus on creative business.
At fifteen, she signed with Penguin Random House and co-published a memoir about intergenerational trauma and coming-of-age through the feminine gaze. Through the pandemic, she gained experience with press and interviews, appearing as a guest on NPR etc.
She worked as the executive assistant for Maya Soetoro of the Obama Family in her peace work for the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance from 2022 to 2024. She will be studying and working at the PEMA secretariat in Thimphu, a clinic for holistic psychology and national mental health, run by Her Majesty, Queen of Bhutan.
In the future, she strives to apply her literary and anthropological education to break into the literary industry and impact modern culture through writing novels.