Andrew X. Pham

Andrew X. Pham (1967–2025) was a Vietnamese-born American author best known for his memoir Catfish and Mandala, which chronicles his bicycle journey through Vietnam following personal tragedy, and for The Eaves of Heaven, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Born in Phan Thiet, Vietnam, he immigrated to the US as a child refugee with his family after the Vietnam War, earned a BS in aerospace engineering from UCLA, and later pursued writing full-time after working as an engineer and journalist. His works earned prestigious awards including the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, Whiting Award, and Guggenheim Fellowship.