Loung Ung
| Loung Ung | |
|---|---|
Loung Ung, author and human-rights activist
|
|
| Born | Loung Ung April 17, 1970 Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
| Occupation | Author, lecturer, activist |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Cambodian |
| Ethnicity | Asian |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Saint Michael's College |
| Period | 21st century (2000-present) |
| Genre | Human Rights |
| Notable works |
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers |
| Notable awards | Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship |
| Website | |
| www |
|
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
Loung Ung (born April 17, 1970) is a Cambodian-born American human-rights activist and lecturer. She is the national spokesperson for the Campaign for a Landmine-Free World. Between 1997 and 2003 she served in the same capacity for the "International Campaign to Ban Landmines", which is affiliated with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.
Ung was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the sixth of seven children and the third of four girls, to Seng Im Ung and Ay Choung Ung. Her actual birthdate is unknown: the Khmer Rouge destroyed many of the birth records of the inhabitants of cities in Cambodia. At ten years of age, she escaped from Cambodia as a survivor of what became known as "the Killing Fields" during the reign of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime. After emigrating to the United States and adjusting to her new country, she wrote two books which related her life experiences from 1975 through 2003.
Today, Ung is married and lives with her husband in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.
Ung's first memoir, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, details her experiences in Cambodia from 1975 until 1980:
"From 1975 to 1979—through execution, starvation, disease, and forced labor—the Khmer Rouge systematically killed an estimated two million Cambodians, almost a fourth of the country's population. This is a story of survival: my own and my family's. Though these events constitute my own experience, my story mirrors that of millions of Cambodians. If you had been living in Cambodia during this period, this would be your story too."
Published in the United States in 2000 by HarperCollins, it became a national bestseller, and in 2001 it won the award for "Excellence in Adult Non-fiction Literature" from the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association. First They Killed My Father has subsequently been published in twelve countries in nine languages.
...
Wikipedia