Sothear Nget

Sothear Nget , the pen name of Sokunthary Svay, is a Khmer writer from New York City. A founding member of the Cambodian American Literary Arts Association (CALAA), she has received fellowships from the American Opera Project, Poets House, Willow Books, and CUNY, as well as commissions from Washington National Opera, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and ISSUE Project Room. In addition to publishing a poetry collection, Apsara in New York (Willow Books, 2017), Svay has had her writing anthologized and performed by actors and singers. Svay’s first opera, Woman of Letters, set by composer Liliya Ugay, received its world premiere at the Kennedy Center in January 2020 as part of the American Opera Initiative. The recipient of the 2021 OPERA America IDEA Grant, her new opera Chhlong Tonle will premiere in Winter 2021. She teaches English at Queens College (CUNY). ឆ្នាំង is her first published translation from Khmer.