How to Pronounce Knife

“How to Pronounce Knife” is a short story by Souvankham Thammavongsa, first published by the literary magazine Granta (in 2017). “How to Pronounce Knife” was subsequently published in Thammavongsa’s short story collection of the same name in 2020. It centers around a Laotian refugee family’s experience as they navigate their child’s education, work, and communication in their new (unnamed) country. While these circumstances are never explicitly explained by the third-person narrator, they become clearer through dialogue and imagery. The child (named Joy through dialogue) and her (unnamed) parents are the primary characters, with Joy’s teacher (Miss Choi) and classmates being secondary characters. The story deals with themes of Miscommunication and Silence, Assimilation and Belonging, and The Weight of Internal Conflict.

Thammavongsa is a contemporary writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She is Laotian and immigrated to Canada as a child; thus, her work draws from her family’s experiences as Laotian immigrants. How to Pronounce Knife (2020), her first collection of short stories, won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2021 Trillium Book Award, among other accolades.

This guide is based on the Granta version of the story, posted in 2017.