After fleeing a war-torn Vietnam, Thi Bui and her family arrived in the United States in the late 1970s. Their emotional voyage was harrowing, and building new lives in a new land presented many challenges. Still, Bui endured and was able to capture her experience as a refugee, immigrant, daughter, and later, a parent, in the acclaimed graphic novel “The Best We Could Do.”

Houstonians soon can share in Bui’s journey. The graphic novelist and educator will deliver a reading and presentation at 4 p.m., Monday, March 18 in the University of Houston-Downtown’s TDECU Tour Room (located in the University’s Welcome Center). Her presentation is sponsored by UHD’s Department of English.

The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP.

Bui’s illustrated memoir was published in 2017 by Abrams ComicArts. It addresses themes of motherhood, displacement, immigration, identity and home. Since its release, “The Best We Could Do” has earned critical praise and was nominated for the prestigious Eisner Award (honoring excellence in comics and graphic novels). It was selected for the University of California, Los Angeles’ Common Book in 2017 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle autobiography category.

In addition to “The Best We Could Do,” Bui has collaborated with poet Bao Phi on the book “A Different Pond” and contributed pieces to online comics publication The Nib and online literary journal PEN America. Bui is a lecturer at California College of the Arts teaching classes in its Master of Fine Arts in Comics program.