Happy 29th birthday to the SatJaDham Lao Literary Project, which was one of the first efforts by Lao American and other diasporic voices to tell their own stories in their own words, on their own terms after the end of the war in 1975. Two decades after the conflict, on April 11th, 1995, the SatJaDham Lao literary project was born. The SatJaDham Lao Literary Project was one of the oldest continuous networks of Laotian American writers in existence.
The group held 7 national conferences of Laotian writers and readers and produced five small anthologies of Lao American writings between 1995 to 2001. The group’s name came from the combination of the words “SatJa” and “Dhamma.” “Satja” means truth in Lao, and “dham” is from dhamma, the teaching of the Buddha. Many of its founders and members have continued to write and contribute to community building through their art, education, civic service and volunteering, including with organizations such as the Lao Heritage Foundation, the Center for Lao Studies and the Laotian American National Alliance.