Terry Nguyễn is an essayist, critic, and poet from Garden Grove, CA. She writes Vague Blue, a critical essay-in-newsletters. She was a contributing editor (2023) and writer (2022-2023) for Dirt, a Web3 media company and daily newsletter, described as "the Village Voice of the internet." She previously wrote about consumerism, technology, and pop culture for The Goods at Vox (2019-2022).
Forthcoming publications include: a review of Faraway The Southern Sky in The Nation; an essay on Paris By Night for Still Alive Magazine; a critical essay on girlbosses and venture capital startups for The Drift; and a review of The Coin for The Believer’s summer issue.
Her non-fiction writing and reporting has appeared in the Boston Review, Los Angeles and Cleveland Review of Books, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Vice, Washington Post, among others. Her poetry has been published in The Poetry Project, Iterant Magazine, The Quarterless Review, SARKA, Stanchion Zine, and other independent magazines. She is represented by Frances Goldin Literary Agency and contemplating applying for an MFA.
terrygtnguyen [at] gmail [dot] com
“A cab burps a woman
lugging regret in her purse;
the sight like an ambulance,
blaring and gauche,
her vacancy a temporary condition,
emotional or otherwise.”
Recent Writing
A Feeling Between the Lines: The anxious influence of Agnes Martin’s “Writings” on two ekphrastic poetry collections (Momus)
Writing Blue: On intertextuality, language, and the color blue (LA Review of Books)
Literature Machines: AI-generated novels are here, but they hardly spell the end of fiction. (Boston Review)
These Hollow Renderings: A man like Bruce Lee is made in his mannerisms. (Are.na Annual)
Girl Blog: On the personal essay (Vague Blue)