Mai Nguyen is a respected journalist and copywriter who earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Nguyen now lives in Toronto.
Fiction
Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead: A Novel
Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada, 2026.
forthcoming April 2026.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
All Cleo Dang has ever wanted was to be a mother. The day she discovers she’s pregnant is the happiest of her life, especially when she learns that her best friend, Paloma, is also expecting. It’s a wonderful surprise and together, they enjoy their pregnancies. But when they both go to the hospital in labor, something goes very, very wrong. Paloma comes home with a baby. Cleo does not.
Now a grieving Cleo must navigate life after losing her baby. She alienates herself from the world, especially her best friend who is living the life she so desperately wanted. Forced to quit her demanding job as an actuary, Cleo manages to find a job at a funeral home where she meets a revolving door of bereaved locals and discovers the power of confronting grief.
Fiction
Sunshine Nails: A Novel
Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada, 2023.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have made a good life for themselves in Toronto, but their landlord has just jacked up the rent of their family-run nail salon, Sunshine Nails, and it’s way more than they can afford. When Take Ten, a glamorous chain offering a more luxurious salon experience, moves into the neighborhood, the Tran family is terrified of losing their business—and the community they’ve built around them.
But daughter Jessica comes to their rescue. She’s just moved back home after a messy breakup and an even messier firing. Together with her workaholic brother, Dustin, and recently immigrated cousin, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. But as the line between right and wrong gets blurred, relationships are put to the test, and Debbie and Phil must choose: Do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon?