There is an audience for all kinds of stories

The Vietnamese-Canadian author of children's books speaks on her family's refugee past and the importance of anger

- Chintan Girish Modi

The Paper Boat: A Refugee Story was based on your family's journey from Vietnam to Canada. You were two years old when you migrated... How did ants find their way into this tale?

Yes, this book is about my family's migration across the South China Sea. I took the direction of talking about the ants because that is the most personal piece of the story. As a child, whenever I asked my mum about the war, she told me this story about how she used to rescue ants from sugar bowls when she was little. These ants came back to reciprocate her kindness, when we were fleeing the country. It was dark at night, and she got lost in tall grass. By the moonlight, she saw a trail of ants and followed them. They led her and all of us to safety. They took us to the riverbed where the escape boat was waiting.