What happened to Nam Le? The return of one of Australia's brightest literary talents

After releasing his first book of short stories, The Boat, Nam Le was branded a "criminally talented" young author of "a singular masterpiece". That was back in 2008, and he hasn't released another book ... until now.

Returning to the literary stage with a book of poetry - 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem - Le talks to Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall about what happened in the interim, and how he found his way back to writing his first literary love - writing in rhyme and verse.

He also chats candidly about his family's refugee origins, his upbringing in suburban Doncaster, his short-lived legal career and his love of poker.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.