Independent Journalist
Born in Vietnam, Nguyen Qui Duc has worked in the United States, Indonesia, England, Morocco and other countries for more than 30 years. In 2006 he was appointed senior editor/Asia for KQED Public Radio’s Pacific Time, a national program focusing on Asian and Asian American affairs for which he was the founding host and producer from 2000 to 2006. Now based in Hanoi, Qui Duc is a contributor for The World (WGBH & the BBC) and FRONTLINE/World (PBS).
Qui Duc earned a B.A. in TV/Radio from San Francisco State University. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was an editor and broadcaster with several TV and radio channels, including the BBC in London and KALW in San Francisco, and a commentator for National Public Radio. His essays have appeared in several newspapers, including the San Francisco Examiner, New York Times Magazine, Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, San Jose Mercury News and Los Angeles Times. His book “Where the Ashes Are, The Odyssey of a Vietnamese Family” (1994) has been re-published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2009. He’s the co-editor of “Vietnam: A Traveler’s Literary Companion” (Whereabouts Press, 1995) and “Once Upon A Dream, The Vietnamese American Experience” (Andrews and McMeel, 1995). His translation of “The Time Tree, Poems by Huu Thinh” was a finalist for the 2004 Translation Prize by the Northern California Book Reviewers Association.
Qui Duc won the Overseas Press Club’s Citation of Excellence in 1989 for his reports from Vietnam for NPR. His documentary, “Shanghai Nights,” was part of a FRONTLINE/World series awarded the Edward R. Murrow Award of Excellence in Television Documentary from the Overseas Press Club of America in 2005. He has twice received the Gerbode Foundation’s Fellowship for Professional Development, and The Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2006.