Sheila Ngoc Pham
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Producer
Sheila Ngoc Pham is a writer, editor and producer working in radio, print, online and film. She has held digital and editorial roles at the ABC and continues to produce documentaries and stories for ABC Radio National, most recently Tongue Tied and Fluent (2019), a five-part series exploring multilingualism in Australia.
Her radio documentary, 'The Lost Cinema of Tan Hiep' (2016), focuses on the history of a family's single-screen cinema in the south of Vietnam which operated for decades against the backdrop of war. The documentary builds on her ongoing interest in popular culture and quotidian life during wartime. Previously she examined the role of music in wartime with her previous radio documentary, Saigon's Wartime Beat (2012), which explores the history of rock music in Vietnam from the 1950s until 1975.
Other ABC RN programs Sheila has produced and written for include The Philosopher's Zone, Earshot, Into the Music, Ockham's Razor and 360documentaries.
As a writer, Sheila has been published in a wide range of literary and mainstream publications with recent work in the Griffith Review, Sydney Review of Books, Meanjin and The New York Times, as well as publications by the State Library of NSW and Museum of Contemporary Art. She has spoken at many writing-related events and was a judge for the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She has written for performance, appearing as a storyteller for 'Stories Then and Now' (2013) which had seasons at Carriageworks and Casula Powerhouse as well as radio play, 'The Lonely Planet Guide to New Delhi' (2012) which was staged at Sidetrack Theatre as part of Hearing Voices at the Sydney Fringe 2012 and broadcast live on Radio Skid Row 88.9FM. Sheila was awarded a CAL WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writers' Fellowship in 2015.
Sheila co-directed TEDxDoiSuthep 2011 in Chiang Mai, Thailand which spawned an influential talk by farmer Jon Jandai entitled, 'Life is easy. What do we make it so hard?' The talk has been viewed around 10 million times. She was also a curator for TEDxSydney 2012 and 2013.
She is bilingual in English and Vietnamese, with knowledge of other languages including French, Italian and Thai from formal studies and living abroad in several countries.
Her radio documentary, 'The Lost Cinema of Tan Hiep' (2016), focuses on the history of a family's single-screen cinema in the south of Vietnam which operated for decades against the backdrop of war. The documentary builds on her ongoing interest in popular culture and quotidian life during wartime. Previously she examined the role of music in wartime with her previous radio documentary, Saigon's Wartime Beat (2012), which explores the history of rock music in Vietnam from the 1950s until 1975.
Other ABC RN programs Sheila has produced and written for include The Philosopher's Zone, Earshot, Into the Music, Ockham's Razor and 360documentaries.
As a writer, Sheila has been published in a wide range of literary and mainstream publications with recent work in the Griffith Review, Sydney Review of Books, Meanjin and The New York Times, as well as publications by the State Library of NSW and Museum of Contemporary Art. She has spoken at many writing-related events and was a judge for the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She has written for performance, appearing as a storyteller for 'Stories Then and Now' (2013) which had seasons at Carriageworks and Casula Powerhouse as well as radio play, 'The Lonely Planet Guide to New Delhi' (2012) which was staged at Sidetrack Theatre as part of Hearing Voices at the Sydney Fringe 2012 and broadcast live on Radio Skid Row 88.9FM. Sheila was awarded a CAL WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writers' Fellowship in 2015.
Sheila co-directed TEDxDoiSuthep 2011 in Chiang Mai, Thailand which spawned an influential talk by farmer Jon Jandai entitled, 'Life is easy. What do we make it so hard?' The talk has been viewed around 10 million times. She was also a curator for TEDxSydney 2012 and 2013.
She is bilingual in English and Vietnamese, with knowledge of other languages including French, Italian and Thai from formal studies and living abroad in several countries.